Boiling an egg sounds so simple. But anyone receiving an order from the breakfast table with a list of requirements that all sound just as culinary as an ‘à point’ steak soon feels out of their depth. Instructions on the Internet, in cookery books and granny’s tips also vary considerably.
Which is not surprising. Boiling an egg involves considerable variables. A simple instruction like ‘put the egg in cold water, bring it to the boil and boil in X minutes’ is no longer enough.
An egg is a natural product and varies in size. Between a small XL and a small L egg, there’s 10 grams difference. Between a big XL and a small L egg, there’s even more. Having such a size classification, we can still take into account the cooking time to some extent. But there are other variables which make things difficult.
The start temperature of the egg, the number of eggs and water, the size and material of the pan, type of heat source, height of the setting (….etc.). All these factors determine the time it takes for the water to boil and how long the eggs need for the perfect result.
An impossible task? No, not with a steam oven. In the steam oven, it doesn’t matter how many eggs there are. Once sufficient steam has been generated, the condensation heats the egg’s shell and it starts to cook.
