Eggs four ways, and what each one is for

Eggs are the most useful food in this whole way of eating: cheap, quick, and impossible to ruin permanently. Four methods, each with the thing that actually matters.

Boiled

The one variable is the starting temperature, so pick a method and stick to it.

From cold, in a pan of water that covers them by 2cm: bring to a rolling boil, then 4 minutes for a set white and a runny yolk, 6 minutes for a soft yolk, 8 minutes for a firm one. Add nothing to the water; salt does not penetrate the shell and vinegar only helps if the shell cracks.

From boiling, using an egg pricker or a pin hole in the wide end: 6 minutes for a runny yolk, 8 for jammy, 10 for hard. Starting in already boiling water makes the white set more evenly and the shell easier to peel.

Cool them in cold water for a minute before peeling, which stops the cooking and shrinks the white away from the shell.

Fried

Use a heavy frying pan over a medium heat, not a high one. Two tablespoons of beef dripping or a 20g knob of butter, hot but not smoking.

Crack the egg into a small cup first, then slide it in. That one step stops you fishing shell out of hot fat.

For a set white and a runny yolk, cover the pan with a lid for 90 seconds. The steam sets the top of the white without flipping. If you want a crispy edge, spoon the hot fat over the white instead, which is faster and does the same job.

Salt after, on the yolk, not before.

Scrambled

Three eggs, a knob of butter, a pinch of salt, in a cold non-stick pan over a low heat. Stir constantly with a spatula, scraping the base, and take it off the heat while it still looks slightly wetter than you want: it carries on cooking in the pan and on the plate.

The other method, which is better if you have two minutes more, is a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Slower, softer, and much harder to overcook.

Salt the eggs fifteen minutes before cooking if you remember. It changes the texture in a way that is easy to notice and hard to explain.

Baked in a ramekin

Butter a ramekin generously, including the sides. Crack in two eggs, add a tablespoon of double cream, salt and a grind of pepper. Stand the ramekins in a roasting tin and pour boiling water into the tin to come halfway up the sides.

160°C fan for 14 to 16 minutes, until the white is just set and the yolk still moves when you nudge the dish. Take them out and wait two minutes, because the carry-over heat finishes the job.

This is the method for cooking eggs for four people at once without standing over a pan.

Buying and keeping

Eggs keep for three weeks past the date on the box if they are stored cool and dry, ideally in the fridge. A fresh egg sinks in water and an old one floats, which is a reliable test but only for eggs that are already old.

Free range versus barn is a welfare choice rather than a nutritional one, and there is no meaningful difference in what you get on the plate.

The cost of getting this right

Fifteen eggs cost about 3 to 4 pounds in a British supermarket, which is roughly 25p an egg. Three eggs and a knob of butter is the cheapest hot meal in the country that is worth eating, which is why eggs ended up in the name of the protocol.