Scientists prove how to cook eggs perfectly every time

Many chefs consider the cooking of an egg art as it can be pretty tricky to cook eggs consistently in their various end forms, especially when considering how to obtain their most nutritional value. But what if you had science to help?

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Researchers have looked at the science of cooking an egg and penned a new study now published in the journal Communications Engineering that combines both perfect cooking time and nutritional value. The study looked at the different temperatures of cooked eggs and compared their nutritional value. Firstly, the yolk of an egg begins to harden at 149 degrees Fahrenheit (65 C), while the white of the egg starts hardening at 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 C).

Researchers explain that cooking an egg in 212F (100C) water for 12 minutes will result in both the yolk and the egg white being hard. Cooking egg sous vide, or the process of sealing food in a bag and cooking it in a water bath at a precise temperature, which is typically between 60 and 70C (140F and 158F) when it comes to eggs, the egg yolk is at a temperature of approximately 65C (149F). While the yolk temperature is ideal in this method the researchers found this temperature is still too low for the proteins within the egg white to fully develop, meaning it's not as nutritionally dense.

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How to Cook the Perfect Egg

1. Boil one saucepan of water
2. Raise the temperature of another saucepan to 30C (86F)
3. Every two minutes, transfer the egg between saucepans
4. Repeat process for 32 minutes

For those who like soft-boiled eggs or cooking an egg in 100C boiling water (212F) for six minutes, the researchers found the egg yolk is still undercooked. By using computational fluid dynamics software, the team was able to find the best way to cook an egg in water, and the method is certainly peculiar.

The best method is to have two saucepans. One filled with boiling water, and another with water at 30C (86F). The process is to transfer the egg from one saucepan to the other every to minutes for exactly 32 minutes in total. The researchers found that cooking eggs in cycles such as this enabled the yolks of the eggs to develop more polyphenols, or healthy micronutrients, when compared against hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or eggs sous vide.

Despite the nutritional value that can be generated from this cooking method, I can't really see many people spending 32 minutes to boil an egg hard -- not to mention adding some extra dishes to the mix as well. But, I could be wrong, and maybe this method of boiling an egg is worth the time for not only the nutritional value, but also the taste. Give it a shot!