Boiling eggs should be the easiest culinary skill in the world, right? However, anyone who has tried it knows that this is not the case at all. The end result is always different – you can get a rubber-like egg white, dried yolk or remove half the egg white while white egg, writes Quartz.
What is the reason for this? Very simple – the egg has not one but two ingredients. Protein and yolk have different compositions. Accordingly – different temperatures are needed to achieve the perfect condition.
The most suitable temperature for protein is 82 degrees Celsius, explains J. Kenji Lopez-Alt in his latest cookbook The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. This is how the protein in the protein will harden, but will still be brittle without taking on a rubbery shape.
However, this is about 10 degrees hotter than the ideal temperature for the yolk. At over 77 degrees it dries and begins to crumble. When the sulfur in the protein and the iron in the yolk react, they form iron sulfide and the yolk acquires an unpleasant greenish appearance.
Of course, we must take into account the peeling itself. If you put the egg in boiling water, you risk the egg white to “cook” long before the yolk has even hardened. Accordingly, however, if you start to boil it in cold water, the shell will stick to the protein and peeling will be a nightmare.
According to Lopez-Alt, the trick is to start boiling the egg in boiling water to avoid sticking the egg white to the shell. Then it is enough to add some ice cubes to reduce the temperature and continue cooking over low heat. To test this method, Lopez-Alt used the scientific approach. He takes the egg out of the water every 30 seconds to check its consistency.
See what it looks like at each stage.
Yes, you could do like him. However, it is easier to apply his conclusions directly. For the best boiled egg – with soft egg white and fully boiled egg yolk, do the following. Bring the water to a boil, gently place the egg in it and leave it for 30 seconds. Then add ice to reduce the temperature. Let the water boil again. Cook for 11 minutes at 87 degrees Celsius. It is.
