~ Perfect Hard-boiled & Runny Soft-boiled Egg ~
An inventory that I certainly can’t live without in my refrigerator at home would be the egg. How about you? Eggs can be cooked and enjoyed in a vast variety of ways, just by itself or in combination with some other ingredients, your choice. Whether they are hard-boiled or soft-boiled, pan-fried (sunny side up, over easy, over medium & over hard), scrambled-hard or soft and omelette or silken, eggs have never failed to complete a meal satisfactorily to many. Don’t get me started with baking!
There are many opinions out there that egg yolk consumption is leading to high cholesterol. However, research shows that consumption of an egg a day is not associated with increased heart disease risk in healthy individuals. Having said that, with the egg being a common ingredient used in many food recipes, it is easy to lose count on the hidden cholesterol consumed. Therefore, I would say I consume egg in moderation to maintain a healthy diet.
Eggs known to be a very fragile ingredient, if not the most fragile ingredient of all even a grocery store cashier would pack them separately with care, require special care when cooked too. To achieve a certain texture and consistency in cooking hard-boiled or soft-boiled eggs, the temperature and cooking time determine evelll. A few additional minutes cooked makes an egg firmer, turning it from a soft-boiled egg to hard-boiled egg.
Traditionally, a large pot of water is boiled before the eggs are dropped carefully into the pot to avoid the shell from cracking and to avoid leeching its potentially nutritious content into the water. With the cooking time and temperature monitored manually, some continue to cook eggs with the heat on, while some just leave the eggs in the large pot of boiled water. There is no guarantee that the eggs will turn out to be perfect.
Is there such thing as a perfect hard-boiled egg? A perfect hard-boiled egg comes out to have tenderly firm white surrounding a nice yellow yolk without a dark green rim around it. What about a tender soft-boiled egg? A perfect soft-boiled egg typically comes out to have tender but not runny white with a thick runny texture yolk. Both can be achieved if the time and cooking temperature are monitored perfectly.
A supposedly easy task to cook an egg may be mind boggling to many. Some may not even know what a perfect hard-boiled egg looks like, let alone cook them. With these challenges in place, it is no wonder toasts with simple soft-boiled eggs and coffee/tea breakfast sets at the eateries are selling fast every single morning. Snaking queue is a common scene at cafes near to the commercial buildings.
I cook eggs with the AMC Premium Cooking System. The 2 most important factors, cooking temperature and time, that determine the texture of eggs cooked are taken care of automatically. There is no need to cook hard-boiled and soft-boiled eggs in a large pot of water. Only a minimal amount of water is sufficient to bring as few as 1 egg to a whole pot of eggs to cook up to the desired firmness or tenderness, reduces the risk of cracking the eggs as compared to cooking them in a large pot of boiling water that runs. All that matter is the egg temperature itself before cooking. With a refrigerated egg, the shell will most likely crack as it expands too drastically in response to the increasing temperature during cooking. Unlike the traditional way of cooking hard-boiled eggs, the AMC way does not require waiting time to make hard-boiled/soft-boiled eggs. Once the eggs are cooked, they can be peeled and consumed immediately in the consistency one preferred.
Ever since my little girl turned 1 year old, a more appropriate age to introduce whole egg to a toddler, cooking hard-boiled eggs the AMC way has been my saviour. It removes all my doubts in whether an egg is cooked sufficiently for her young age. Under-cooking an egg may lead to the Salmonella risk. As I am not a risk taker, I do not serve my little girl soft-boiled eggs but hard-boiled eggs. Over-cooking them may lead to the formation of hydrogen sulphide and iron sulphide, where a greenish- grey colour can be observed on the outer layer of yolks. That may harm the quality of protein texture in eggs and make them too dry to swallow. With her turning 4 years old next month, over-cooked eggs with dry yolks are still not an easy task for her to swallow. A perfectly cooked egg is for sure easier to swallow by both children and adults alike.
From my gallery : Photo of an over-cooked egg from a hotel with a greenish-grey coloration on the outer layer of its yolk.
Cooking hard-boiled or soft-boiled eggs can be a lot of fun making the kitchen your laboratory with the AMC Premium Cooking System. I have been into this eggs research project from my tiny kitchen for a year before the following results (refer photos) are published here in this blogpost. May this be a reference point for you to cook your very own perfect eggs.
Hard-boiled Eggs Recipe (Serves 2) :-
- 2 Eggs, 55 grams each (room temperature)
- 3 tablespoons / 50ml Water
AMC Healthy Cooking Method :
- Place 2 eggs into a 16cm 1.3litre Benjamin Pot. Add 3 tablespoons / 50ml of water into Pot unit.
- Cover Pot unit with an AMC Classic Lid. Switch on Navigenio to “A”. Turn on Audiotherm, place on Visiotherm knob, indicating “Carrot Window” or 80°C to cook for 7 minutes (may vary depending on your desired texture).
- As Audiotherm beeps, turn off Audiotherm and Navigenio.
- Rinse eggs with cool water, deshell and serve warm.
Eggs and minimal water placed in an AMC 16cm 1.3 litre Benjamin Pot unit.
Audiotherm is set to cook for 7 minutes from “Carrot Window” or 80°C point.
When cooking time is over, hard-boiled eggs are done. The eggs remain intact in the Pot unit without cracks.
Here is the 7 minutes “perfect” Hard-boiled egg without the greenish-gray layer on the outer rim of its yolk.
Here is a batch of the 5 eggs with the same 7 minutes cooking time. It still looks “perfect” but a little dryer than the one cooked in a batch of 2 eggs (photo above refers). Do you know why?
Here is the 6 minutes cooked Hard-boiled egg.
Here is the 4 minutes cooked Hard-boiled egg.
Here is a 50-gram Kampung egg cooked for 3 Minutes.
This is a 50-gram Kampung Egg from the refrigerator, cooked for 3 minutes.
Soft-boiled Eggs Recipe (Serves 2) :-
- 2 Eggs, 55 grams each (room temperature)
- 3 tablespoons Water
AMC Healthy Cooking Method :
- Place 2 eggs into a 16cm 1.3litre Benjamin Pot. Add 3 tablespoons of water into Pot unit.
- Cover Pot unit with an AMC Classic Lid. Switch on Navigenio to “A”. Turn on Audiotherm, place on Visiotherm knob, indicating “Carrot Window” or 80°C to cook for 2 minutes (may vary depending on your desired texture).
- As Audiotherm beeps, turn off Audiotherm and Navigenio.
- Rinse eggs with cool water, carefully break eggs into half, scoop into a bowl and serve warm.
Eggs and minimal water placed in an AMC 16cm 1.3 litre Benjamin Pot unit.
Audiotherm is set to cook for 2 minutes from “Carrot Window” or 80°C point.
When cooking time is over, hard-boiled eggs are done. The eggs remain intact in the Pot unit without cracks.
Serve the soft-boiled eggs in egg holders. Break and remove the tip of the shell with a teaspoon to serve or scoop them into a bowl before serving.
Here is the 2 minutes runny Soft-boiled egg.
Here is the 1 minute cooked Soft-boiled egg.
Tips :
- With temperature being a fixed factor, cooking time may vary slightly with different egg sizes and their volume in the pot, to achieve your preferred texture or result. You really get to learn a lot experimenting with AMC.
- To cook more eggs, say a carton of 30 eggs, in a bigger pot, you may want to add around 120 to 150ml of water into a bigger Pot unit for sufficient steam to regulate within the entire pot environment during the cooking process.
- For more information on benefits of egg to young children, click here, for the article “An egg a day appears to help young children grow taller” by BBC. It has been a good read to me. I hope you enjoy reading it too.
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