Here are some useful tips to make your soft-boiled eggs:
-Eggs should be extra fresh; here is how you check on their freshness: dip the eggs in cold water. The perfect egg for the soft-boiled recipe is the one that remains at the bottom of the water. If the eggs float in between, that means that they would be best if hard-boiled. If, on the contrary, the egg reaches the surface of the water and floats, you might as well discard it.
-If you want to avoid the shell to crack, use room temperature eggs and delicately immerse them in the water when it is boiling. Some may like to start from cold water, but that method requires to count 3 minutes when the water starts simmering. Personally, I prefer using the first method.
-Add a pinch of salt or a few drops of vinegar in the water. That way, if by any chance an egg has cracked, the egg white will make a clot and not disseminate in the water.
-Upon taking the eggs out of the water, run cold water through them to prevent further cooking. If you are not quite ready to serve them, you may dip the eggs in water at 60° to maintain the eggs’ right temperature for just a few minutes.
-Ideally, the soft-boiled eggs are best served in egg cups with bread buttered with salted butter on the side. The bread should be sliced in thin logs we call “mouillettes” in French [moo yet] the size of a finger.
-I can admit that the cooking part is a little delicate. Depending on their size, their temperature before cooking, and your mastering for the dipping and retrieving parts, the eggs could be more or less done. Unfortunately, it’s only when you cut open the top that you’ll find out if they are actually perfect or not…
Perfect soft-boiled eggs
The eggs you will use must be at room temperature.
Ingredients
- 4 extra fresh eggs (farm or organic)
- A pinch of salt or a few drops of vinegar
- Salted butter (room temperature)
- French baguette
- Fleur de sel
- 4 egg cups
Directions
- Step 1 Heat up the water with salt or with few drops of vinegar. In the meantime, slice the bread in thin long slices and spread the salted butter on.
- Step 2 When the water is boiling, delicately immerse each egg with a large tablespoon. If you have a metallic basket, it’s even better: that way the eggs will be dipped all at the same time. When the water starts boiling again, count 3 minutes.
- Step 3 Then, bring the eggs out of the water and run cold water through them. Serve immediately in egg cups, wide side up for a larger opening. Cut open the upper tip. Each person will use salt according to their liking.
