How fast do eggs boil?

corblimey

So I decided to have boiled eggs for breakfast this morning, first time in well forever. I put 2 medium eggs into boiling water and left them for about 5mins. Came back in, removed 1 to see how it was doing. Opened it up and it was perfect, nice and runny, soft boiled. However, in the time it took to extract that egg, decapitate it and peer inside, the other egg came out not hard boiled exactly but definitely not soft boiled - the yolk was fairly solid. It couldn't have been more than 20-30 seconds between taking them both out, could an egg go from soft to hard boiled in that short a time? I've always thought of it as a gradual process rather than soft soft soft... hard! (cough)

I'll shorten the time a little tomorrow and take out both at the same time, but I just wonder about the science behind it. 2 eggs put in water at the same time and taken out at the same time would HAVE to be the same consistency, right?

RangeR

corblimey wrote: »

... soft soft soft... hard! (cough)

Made me chuckle quite nicely

rubadub

corblimey wrote: »

I'll shorten the time a little tomorrow and take out both at the same time, but I just wonder about the science behind it. 2 eggs put in water at the same time and taken out at the same time would HAVE to be the same consistency, right?

The science would have a lot to do with heat transfer. If the 2 eggs are the same size and the same temp and going into a large pot and not resting on the bottom then they should be even. A larger egg will obviously take longer to get to temp in its core, if your pot is uneven and warped and one egg is resting on a spot in direct contact with the metal which is in turn in close contact to the heat source it could get a little hotter -though water will buffer and distribute the heat quickly. If all is the same and you take one out and open it then the other is still insulated in its shell and will keep cooking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_egg

I make boiled eggs in work, I sometimes pour on boiling water and leave them for a long time, I might reboil the water and then leave them rest. Looking on wiki this is called coddling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coddled_eggs

There are two methods of coddling eggs. The first is to cook the egg in its shell, by immersing it in near-boiling water. This can be done either in a pan where the water is kept below boiling point, or by pouring boiling water over the egg and letting it stand for 10 minutes.

The second method is to use an egg coddler, a porcelain cup or ramekin with a lid used similarly to a bain-marie. The inside of the egg coddler is first buttered in order to flavour the egg and allow it to be removed more easily. A raw egg (sometimes with additional flavourings) is then broken into the coddler, which is then placed in a pan of near-boiling water for 7-8 minutes.

Coddlers have been manufactured by Royal Worcester in Worcester, UK, since at least the 1890s, and were probably invented there. Many companies [1] now make egg coddlers, and some are highly sought after collectors’ items.

Because coddled eggs are not boiled, some people may be concerned of the risk of salmonella and other bacteria. According to the US Dept of Health, cooking at temperature of 72°C/160°F or more is sufficient to kill salmonella,[2] but children, the elderly and persons with compromised immune systems are advised against eating lightly-cooked eggs because of possible under-cooking.

Noctua

We keep chickens and I have found that the fresher the egg is, the longer it takes. Five and a half minutes gives me perfect soft boiled eggs. The eggs are never more than a few days old.

foodaholic

Im finding quite the opposite, We have chickens too and I find that the eggs cook quicker.

I put eggs in a pot with cold water and when it starts to boil time 3 mins for soft dippy egg. with my hens eggs its about 2 mins now

Noctua

Weird! If I undertime them they are always way too runny. I wonder if it could be breed or diet related?

kylith

I got a colour changing egg timer that you put in the water with them. I find that half-past soft is spot on for duck eggs.

Maja

foodaholic wrote: »

Im finding quite the opposite, We have chickens too and I find that the eggs cook quicker.

I put eggs in a pot with cold water and when it starts to boil time 3 mins for soft dippy egg. with my hens eggs its about 2 mins now

3min from when it starts to boil! Mine are always hard after 2 minutes. I cook eggs 1 -max 1min 30sec from when it starts boiling and they are always perfectly soft, but not raw.

-oh, it is important how much water you put into souse pan -when too much, it takes longer to start boiling and they will come out hard. There should be as much water, just to cover the eggs and not more!

mooeire

I put the eggs into cold water and when it starts to boil i turn the heat down to 3 and time for 3 minutes... To be soft and runny ( well my girlfriend came up with this method )

rubadub

Maja wrote: »

There should be as much water, just to cover the eggs and not more!

this then depends on how wide your pot is, i.e. wider =more water

mooeire wrote: »

I put the eggs into cold water and when it starts to boil i turn the heat down to 3 and time for 3 minutes...

This is very specific to yourself, but others could develop similar methods on their own cooker & pots. e.g. on my cooker it could take 6minutes to reach a boil, on yours it could be 2mins. Your "3" on your cooker could be on a scale of 1-10, mine is 1-4. Even on the same cooker "3" on my small rings give off far less heat energy than "3" on the big ring. Depends on pot size, contact between pot & ring, is the pot covered, the lists of variables are huge.

The way to cut off as many variables as possible is to talk in terms of boiling water and possibly quenching. If you have a large pot of boiling water then it will be the same as the next persons, a large pot contains a lot of energy so the cold eggs will have a minimal cooling effect. So it is easier to get a repeatable method. e.g. put eggs into fully boiling water for 5mins, then take out and immediately quench them in 4L of cold water.

If you have a large pot of boiling water and turn it off then it will usually cool slower than a small pot, if using electricity there is residual heat in the element still heating the pot.

In the US you might see people taking altitude into account, i.e. water will boil at lower tems the higher you go so they have to boil for longer.

I was surprised to see these microwave egg boilers
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.34738

Mellor

kylith wrote: »

I got a colour changing egg timer that you put in the water with them. I find that half-past soft is spot on for duck eggs.

I had one of these for years, and its was always spot on for eggs, if it went into cold water, hot water, you turned it down, you didn't etc etc, was always great.

It finally cracked, I'd love to know where to grab one again

RangeR

Mellor wrote: »

I had one of these for years, and its was always spot on for eggs, if it went into cold water, hot water, you turned it down, you didn't etc etc, was always great.

It finally cracked, I'd love to know where to grab one again

Hmmm, googling the words on the device brings up loads of places.

Ludo

I put the eggs in cold water. Once at the boil, I lower the heat and put on the toaster. When the toast pops, the eggs are soft boiled. The wife prefers slightly harder eggs, so I butter the toast before lifting hers

Works every time....unless someone screws with the temp dial on the toaster without my knowing which annoys me a lot :mad:

kylith

Mellor wrote: »

I had one of these for years, and its was always spot on for eggs, if it went into cold water, hot water, you turned it down, you didn't etc etc, was always great.

It finally cracked, I'd love to know where to grab one again

I think I got mine from Amazon.