How do you boil an egg?

[Biddlybee]

Fork out a bit and put it on the toast like you're buttering a corner of the bread with it.

hmmmmmmmm

I fucking love the anti-intellectualising here

I don't know what that means

They can be, but that's all the more reason for the egg to be cooked right. They're nice with freshly made bread.

I'll try it

 

[dodgepot]

mr strong is square though

yeah, but what was his favourite food?

 

[sojourner]

I had an ex who had mastered the perfect boiled egg after years of experimentation, but I can't remember how he did them now. The white was always cooked. The yolk was always runny. And served with fresh granary bread soldiers, buttered. With freshly ground salt and pepper on the side of the plate.

Yum.

And you split up with them?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Eating boiled eggs with a fork! Surely you should use an egg spoon

You forget that I'm an American with typical steamshovel table manners.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Look, if you're coming out saying 'I can't boil an egg', just say it, we'll call you an idiot, then move on.

I can't boil an egg.

 

[kyser_soze]

Fork out a bit and put it on the toast like you're buttering a corner of the bread with it.

How do you fork out a runny yolk? Forks are fundamentally incompatible with liquids under a certain level of viscocity...

 

[Biddlybee]

yeah, but what was his favourite food?

I took a while....

you being like mr strong not the egg.

 

[spanglechick]

I'm still not sure of them y'know... to poach means to cook in liquid, they're more baked, or whatever the term is when you stand something in liquid to cook it but it doesn't touch the liquid (like a terrine).... you know what I mean?

as i said on the first page:

if you use hardware, doesn't it then become a coddled egg?

 

[kyser_soze]

I can't boil an egg.

And you split up with a BF who could?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

How do you fork out a runny yolk? Forks are fundamentally incompatible with liquids under a certain level of viscocity...

My mother cooked the whites solid. While the yolk was a bit runny it would still cling to the solid white part. Keep in mind that Americans use forks for everything except for soup.

 

[Biddlybee]

as i said on the first page:

Thread was moving too quickly

Coddled... now I know

 

[kyser_soze]

OOOO, that sounds a bit flash to me.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

And you split up with them?

Yes.

In addition to the perfect boiled egg I also miss his steamed sea bass with ginger and his venison casserole and our two cats that he got custody of.

Don't particularly miss him that much though.

 

[spanglechick]

Fork out a bit and put it on the toast like you're buttering a corner of the bread with it.

you never did this?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Nope. The toast was usually cut into triangles, if it was cut at all. Sometimes the liquid part was "mopped" up from the plate with the toast triangle, entirely without the benefit of utensils.

 

[boing!]

you never did this?

What's the orange blob on the plate in the second picture?

 

[kyser_soze]

Orange marmalade

 

[Biddlybee]

Looks like marmalade for any leftover soldiers. I'd have jam personally

 

[boing!]

why is it left on the plate? And why with boiled eggs? Looks odd to me.

 

[kyser_soze]

Tiptree jam? Or some similarly labelled imposter?

 

[Biddlybee]

craft club darling

 

[kyser_soze]

OOOOoOOOOO

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

And you split up with a BF who could?

I know, I know, I clearly didn't know what side my granary soldiers were buttered on.

It should be one of those crucial questions on internet dating sites, like do you smoke or like country music. Can you boil an egg is essential information that enables you to sort the wheat from the chaff in the dating game. How do you like your eggs generally speaking, in fact.

Y'see, I do like a boiled egg, but I'm inept. So if I cook one for myself then I'm a poached kinda girly, with a very occasional fried in a full english or more rarely omelette or scrambled.

 

[spanglechick]

Thread was moving too quickly

Coddled... now I know

my mum had white earthenware ones that looked like dustbins (can't find a picture, most of them seem to have metal lids) but to my memory i don't think she ever used them. I remember she saidd they needed buttering first, but i don't recall her ever coddling eggs.

boiled, or sometimes scrambled for teatime. fried eggs were a rare indulgence until i was teen when, like dodgepot's stepteen, i would have lived on fried egg sarnies if i could. omlettes were one of the few self-sufficiency things i was taught as a kid, but muym never did them herself - probably cos they need cooking one after the other and you can't serve up a whole family's worth together.

this thread has inspired all kinds of egg memories.

nowadays i mostly only bake with them or use them for carbonara sauces.

 

[spanglechick]

What's the orange blob on the plate in the second picture?

i have to say, i nearly rejected the picture for that reason. it's surprisingly difficult to find really representative picures of egg and soldiers.

 

[WWWeed]

jesus I cant belive some people cant boil eggs (not a dig, I am just amazed!)

Heres how I do it and I dont use a timer:

Get a saucepan & put the eggs in the saucepan. Fill the saucepan with cold water straight out of the tap so that the water level is just higher than the eggs. Put the saucepan on the stove and wait for the boil. While your waiting make your soliders how you like em. Once it has boiled allow it to boil for another minute (or two if you DONT want it runny) just to make sure there done. After you've waited the minute or two drain all the boiling water by pouring it down the sink. Now serve and eat!

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I'm one of those gauche Americans. I can't recall ever cutting toast into strips. But, yes there was some bits of egg shell that had to be removed here and there.

You've never had boiled egg with soldiers!

Deprived childhood.

Boiled egg and soldiers is standard nursery food for children over here. And comfort food for grown ups.

It's all about the dunking of the soldiers into the yolk, which is why the consistency is so crucial to the culinary proceedings.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

jesus I cant belive some people cant boil eggs (not a dig, I am just amazed!) Heres how I do it and I dont use a timer: Get a saucepan & put the eggs in the saucepan. Fill the saucepan with cold water straight out of the tap so that the water level is just higher than the eggs. Put the saucepan on the stove and wait for the boil. While your waiting make your soliders how you like em. Once it has boiled allow it to boil for another minute (or two if you DONT want it runny) just to make sure there done. After you've waited the minute or two drain all the boiling water by pouring it down the sink. Now serve and eat!

Don't be silly. Anyone can boil an egg any old how. But there's a real knack and art to boiling a perfect boiled egg. It's the perfect boiled egg method that defeats so many people.

 

[Infidel Castro]

I think we need to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

Personally I put the egg into a pan of cold water, as I can’t bare the possibility of them cracking from the temperature change. Then I set a timer for just under 3 minutes from the moment the water starts to boil. This generally works, but sometimes they’re over done due to the egg cooking whilst the water has been heating up and the yolk isn’t quite runny enough, thus negating the purpose of the soldiers you have made whilst waiting for the egg to cook, which is always a shame.

Anyone got a fail safe method?

That's how I do it! I'm ignoring all the other responses as i feel vindicated.

 

[WWWeed]

Don't be silly. Anyone can boil an egg any old how. But there's a real knack and art to boiling a perfect boiled egg. It's the perfect boiled egg method that defeats so many people.

I must be blessed then in that case