The perfect boiled egg


The perfect boiled egg
Making boiled eggs is always a delight and it pleases the young and old alike. This little transgenerational side puts them on the list of "things to do on Sunday evening when you don't know what to do" in many families (including mine)...

That said, it's not that simple, you have to pay attention to several details, which if not respected could (a little) spoil the moment.
15 K 4.7/5 (28 reviews)
Grade this page:
Keywords for this post:CookingEggTip
Last modified on: January 30th 2021
For this post: Comment Follow Ask me a question Send to a friend
The perfect boiled egg

What is a "perfect" boiled egg?

It's very subjective of course, but let's try to list what's important:
- Its shell is whole, not cracked or split
- It is impeccably cooked: the white is set, completely, but not the yolk, which has remained liquid (otherwise it is a soft-boiled egg, or even hard-boiled)
- When you cut the cap (the top) you don't put small pieces of shell in the egg
- It is served with "mouillettes", an essential French concept, which deserves a real good bread

That's it, now let's see how to try to get as close as possible to this noble goal.

How to do it ?

A big effort on the cooking, you will have understood, and for that you must absolutely respect the basic rules of cooking eggs in water:

1) If possible, use fresh, quality eggs, and take them out of the fridge, if they are there (which is not necessary), at least 1 hour beforehand, so that they come back to room temperature, otherwise the cooking time becomes random
2) Everyone goes to the table at the beginning of the cooking, boiled eggs don't wait
3) We pierce the base of the egg shell with a needle or a nail, to burst the air pocket that is there, so the shell does not crack during cooking

percer la poche d'air d'un oeuf


4) Do not salt or vinegar the cooking water, it is useless
5) Put the eggs gently into the boiling water with a soup spoon
6) Cook for exactly 3 minutes, not less, and from the moment the water comes back to the boil, which means you don't have to worry about the number of eggs in the pan

That's it, most of the work is done. You put your eggs in egg cups and then directly to the table.

The tasting

Cutting

Classically, we cut the top of the egg with a knife by tapping and turning all around, gesture not very practical. If your family is a "big" consumer of boiled eggs, you can consider buying a "toc-oeuf" or "toqueur", it is a small, simple and not very expensive utensil, with a small spring and a weight that makes in 1 second an almost perfect cut of an egg cap, it is what all restaurants use.
If you have young children, or grandchildren, you will surely look like a magician to them, when they first use this tool.

toc-oeuf ou tocqueur



The "mouillettes"

There is no boiled egg worthy of the name without "mouillettes", i.e. small sticks of bread that you dip in the yolk to taste it, it is all the delight of boiled eggs.
The mouillettes deserve a special treatment, it would be a shame to just take a slice of bread cut into sticks (although... in case of a big laziness).

oeuf coque et mouillettes

Instead, I suggest you bet on a good traditional baguette (trust your baker), no need for it to be fresh, a leftover from the day before will do just fine, and you could :
1) Cut a piece of baguette 7 or 8 cm long, depending on the age of your guests
2) Cut this piece in 2 in the height and put them in the toaster
3) Cut each piece into sticks and spread with a little butter
4) Taste...

You can also decorate the mouillettes by putting on top, rather in thin slices, a little ham, salmon, cheese, etc. according to your taste.


Obviously, all this may seem a little complicated, a little long, but not so much, and you will see that in time, you will do it naturally without really making an effort.

In summary: Take particular care with the cooking, use a toc-egg if necessary, and make beautiful and good mussels.

Lasts posts
Cake moulds
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25th 20251,2925
Thinning out herbs
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...
August 8th 20251,3025
Add a bay leaf
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...
July 31th 20251,3895
Parsley stems
Parsley stems
Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?
July 28th 20251,535 13
A drizzle of olive oil
A drizzle of olive oil
Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...
July 13th 20251,6465

Other pages you may also like
Cake moulds
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25th 20251,2925
The window-pane test in bread-making
The window-pane test in bread-making
The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...
June 16th 202192 K 23.9
How to break eggs properly?
How to break eggs properly?
It is a very common gesture in pastry, bakery and of course cooking: breaking eggs to incorporate them into a recipe. You have eggs (which professionals call "shell eggs" to differentiate them from liquid eggs in cartons or cans), and you must break them to incorporate the contents into your...
June 26th 202112 K4.8
Your oven in "proofer" mode
Your oven in "proofer" mode
In the bakery, proofing is a crucial stage in the process of making light, plump breads and pastries. During proofing, the yeast ferments the sugars present in the dough, releasing carbon dioxide which forms bubbles. This process allows the dough to swell and aerate, guaranteeing a soft, light...
September 27th 20247,3485
The beautiful story of the croissants
The beautiful story of the croissants
As you may have already noticed, cooking, baking and pastry-making are full of stories or legends, usually very romantic, about this or that product or recipe. This is often the case for named recipes, for example tarte tatin, peach melba, paris-brest and many others, but it also applies to very...
October 10th 201817 K5
Post a comment or question
Posted by:
I am not a leaving thing

Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
I am not a leaving thing
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.

Back to top of page