Cooking eggs: this is how the breakfast egg succeeds

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Cooking eggs is a science in itself: Not only does everyone like their egg differently, the size of the breakfast ice cream also has an impact on the cooking time. We reveal how it works.

In this article you can expect:

Cooking eggs: hard or soft – how do you like your breakfast egg?

"How do you eat your egg for breakfast? Do you like hard-boiled or soft-boiled?" This question – so casually asked – is the beginning of a little science that overwhelms many of us early in the morning.

Because everyone likes their egg differently and that makes cooking the breakfast ice cream a little trick: Egg white and egg yolk soft, egg white hard and egg yolk soft, both hard – In addition to these three variants, there are also a large number of intermediate stages.

And that's not all: the size of the egg also plays an aggravating role in this calculation. We untangle the clutter around the perfect breakfast egg.

Boiling eggs: the rule of thumb

Anyone who does not use an egg cooker knows the problem after the correct cooking time. A simple table solves the problem, at least roughly, because it provides reasonably reliable guide values ​​for the cooking time of soft and hard-boiled eggs:

Degree of hardnesscooking time

Soft-boiled egg

about 3-5 minutes

Waxy egg

about 5-8 minutes

Hard boiled egg

at least 9 minutes

Or in other words:

The perfect breakfast egg: that's how it works

Most people love their egg as soft as wax: the egg white is already firm, the yolk is still liquid. If you are one of these people, then it lies ideal cooking time at 6 and 7 minutes. If the egg white should be a little softer (e.g. for eggs in a glass), take a closer look 5.5 to 6 minutes at. If both should be more firm, then the egg timer turns on 6.5 to 7 minutes Cooking time.

Attention, now it's getting a bit tricky: If the eggs are very large, leave them in there a little longer. For eggs of size L, the colleagues from Springlane write, increase the cooking time by 25-50 seconds. Take the eggs out of the pot when they are quite small. For eggs of size S, the cooking time should increase shorten it by 20-45 seconds. That means: A small egg is soft as wax after about 5 minutes.

But be careful: these times only work if you only put the egg in the water when the water is already boiling! It looks different when you put the egg in cold water. But more on that later.

Fun fact: the formula for the perfect egg

Scientists have actually created a formula for boiling eggs. This can be used to calculate how long eggs have to be cooked under different environmental conditions in order to achieve the desired degree of hardness. Because in addition to the size and weight of the eggs also play the different temperatures at different times of the cooking process an important role. Here is the complete formula.

However, very few of us should be able to understand this formula at all – let alone use it in the kitchen on Sunday mornings. Instead, we prefer to stick to the rule of thumb when boiling eggs and boil our eggs for between 6 and 7 minutes.

Boil eggs without cracking the shell

Even with the perfect cooking time, things can still go badly wrong when boiling eggs. The breakfast nightmare: the egg shell bursts in the pot and the egg white spreads in all directions. On the other hand, there are several things you can do when boiling eggs. On the one hand: Add salt or vinegar to the water. As a result, the egg coagulates faster and does not leak if it does burst. At the same time, this also means that the egg will set faster overall. The cooking time on the egg timer should be adjusted accordingly.

It can also help if you already have the eggs Take out of the fridge a few minutes before cooking. Then the temperature difference is not that great when it comes into the pot. It is similar when you the egg is already in the cold water and then heated both together. As soon as the water has started to boil, this shortens the cooking time to the desired degree of hardness. If you then pierce the eggshell with an egg piercer, nothing can really go wrong. Although the technology is controversial: According to the WDR program "Quarks & Co" of the 3,000 eggs that were boiled for the practical test, 50 percent were pierced and 50 percent were not. Nevertheless, about every 10th egg burst – pierced or not.

The theory of the prick advocates: The small hole allows the pressure inside the egg to escape instead of bursting. Opponents say: The piercing will damage the delicate structure of the egg and it is more likely that it will break open and crack. By the way, if you don't have an egg piercer at home, you can simply use a needle. But be careful: the raw egg is very fragile!

Scare eggs – yes or no?

Opinions are also divided on this question: Should one put boiled eggs off immediately after taking them out (i.e. hold them under cold water) – or not? The technique is generally recommended especially with soft eggs. Because if the cooking process is not stopped with cold water, it can happen that the egg, which was just still soft, continues to cook inside and the yolk becomes firm. With hard-boiled eggs, however, you can save yourself the need to cool them down under cold water. This is useful anyway if you want to keep the eggs longer.

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment writes that eggs that are to be stored should be fully cooked. That means "depending on the size of the eggs about 10 minutes of cooking time. Basically, hard-boiled eggs spoil faster if the shell is damaged because germs can then penetrate the egg. For this reason eggs should not be quenched with cold water even after cooking: When quenching, the water and any germs it may contain get inside the egg through small cracks or the porous shell. This shortens the shelf life to a few days. "

So: put off soft eggs; Better not use it with hard eggs!