You're welcome Deb! Glad to hear this was helpful!

Hi, thanks for this. I use a pressure cooker (NOT an instapot) but my eggs were over cooking. Then someone else shopped and there were medium eggs! I managed perfect Hard boiled with 4 min at temp and 4 min off. I like that you start with refrigerated eggs. you thinking and technique make sense to me.

The problem is that yolks set at a lower temperature than the egg white. So if you want a soft boiled egg with a firm yolk and soft center, you have to cook the egg at a higher temperature than you want the yolk to be at and remove the eggs from the water before the heat rises in the center to set the yolk. If you don't mind the egg white being soft too, you can make this style of egg: https://norecipes.com/onsen-tamago-hot-spring-eggs/

Thanks

Hi Corey, I'm glad to hear this has been helpful for you. What is the difficulty you're having with the crack? Is the crack spreading and causing albumen to leak out, or is the egg still difficult to peel?

Hi Penelope, putting them in boiling water is definitely a more predictable way of boiling eggs since it eliminates the differences between stoves (and how cold the water was when it entered the pot), but my eggs almost always crack when I do this. I've tried the thumbtack method, but then I get a stream of albumen that squirts out of the hole. I wonder what I'm doing wrong. As for time for boiling eggs increasing I think there could be two explanations. The first is that eggs have indeed increased in size. If you're in the US, Australia, Scandinavia or Japan, the other reason is that these countries require the washing of eggs before they can be sold to consumers. I believe the US was the first to mandate this and it started sometime in the 1970's. Aside from cleaning off any pathogens on the outside of the egg, this also removes a thin membrane on the outside of the egg that protects it. That's why eggs that have been washed need to be refrigerated. Most of the world does not refrigerate their eggs and I'm guessing the US was probably the same way until they started being washed. This would account for the 2 minute difference as the eggs are going to be starting at a temperature about 35 degrees F lower than what they would be if they were sitting out on the counter.

Hi Marc, I always place my eggs in boiling water rather than start with cold, (using a long thumbtack to make a hole in the bottom to prevent cracking) I am wondering why boiling an egg for 'soft boiled' has gone from 3 mins.to 5.over the years. Has there been some mysterious change to eggs or chickens over the years? I initially thought that it could just be that the eggs are bigger but they don't appear to be that much bigger. Any ideas?

Sorry to hear about mom Sylvia. The trick with boiled eggs is to understand all of the things that can effect the boiling time and control for them. Then it's just a matter of finding the perfect timing for your setup, and you should be able to get perfect eggs every time.