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@bgruber

Thanks to SeriousEats convenient comment subscriptions, I get comments forwarded to my inbox, so yep. Still reading them.

As for the answer... em... because Cook's Illustrated readers like their salmon more well-done than I do?

shh... don't tell Chris!

@ScoutinSpokane - sounds like something that might be good for the toaster oven.

Kenji,

The heat transfer rate/area = (coefficient of thermal conductivity)*(T_bath-T_egg)/distance

The equation is the same regardless of the medium. The dependence on the medium comes from the thermal conductivity coefficient.

Also, I agree with you that we are the only two involved in this conversation right now :)

@pookay

p.s. All of this is starting to remind me why thermodynamics was my second least favorite class in college :)

Kenji,
The contradition I pointed out still stands no matter what constants are involved since any constant divided by zero is still infinity.

The rate of heating per area is proportional to the temperature difference and inversely proportional to the distance (this actually means that in the instant right after the cool egg is put in the boiling water, the rate of heat transfer to the outer surface of the egg is infinite; note that this is not a paradox since an infinite rate times an infinitely small time interval is still a finite amount of heat). The temperature itself is not inversely proportional to the distance (or the square of the distance); solving the rate equation, the temperature approaches that of the boiling water exponentially fast with time so that if you wait long enough the whole egg will be the same temperature as the bath. The distance to the heat bath appears only in the exponent, so that the closer to the bath, the faster the temperature changes.

Why no mention of the other "good stuff" they leave behind? That has value as well.

@accidentalepicurean: There are many types of Morning Glory. I am not familiar with pad boom fai dang, but if it is made with what I know as Water Morning Glory, also known as Water Spinach (and, I think, Rau Muong in Vietnamese), I'd love the dish. I'm no botanist, but I suspect that Water Morning Glory, which I believe is a more or less aquatic plant, is not the same thing as the Morning Glories with the pretty flowers that we see frequently in N. America and which goats apparently will take pleasure in eating.

As a scientist, I'm glad that someone is starting a series focusing on this aspect of cooking. However, I would like to point out an inconsistency:

"when a mass is exposed to heat for a given period of time, a temperature gradient will form within that mass, with the area closest to the heat source being hottest, and the area furthest from the heat source being coolest. With very few exceptions, the temperature of a given spot in the food is proportional to the inverse square of its distance from the surface exposed to the heat source."

If this were true, since the distance from the heat source at the surface of the egg is zero, this would imply that the surface of the egg has infinite temperature. I think you mean to say that the RATE of heat conduction depends on the distance from the heat source (as well as the temperature difference). Also, the rate of heat conduction is proportional to the inverse of the distance from the source, NOT the inverse squared (Newton's law of cooling).

I will beg to differ on the instructions given here.

You *can* have more control and reduce the variables involved in cooking your eggs. First of all, starting with cold eggs right out of the fridge is a mistake. You are maximizing the temperature difference between the egg's starting temperature and its final temperature. You will have much more control if you warm the eggs first. I place them in a bath of hot tap water for 10 minutes while I heat my water.

Secondly, I place the eggs directly into boiling water. The reason I put the eggs directly into boiling water is that waiting for a boil is a "soft target". What you consider a boil or a simmer could be as much as a minute different from someone else.

Lastly, I stop the cooking after a prescribed period of time by pouring off most of the hot water and replacing it with water and ice.

In summary: 1) I reduce the temperature change that will be required from the starting point of the egg to the end point of the process by warming the eggs up. 2) I avoid soft milestones by placing the eggs directly into boiling water at the beginning of the cooking process. 3) I stop the cooking (and improve the peel of the egg) by using an ice wash at the end.

BTW, if you want hot eggs, pull them out after only 10 or 15 seconds. The ice water will have already improved the peel by cooling the membrane and surface of the egg without cooling the inside of the egg. You can even peel the egg most of the time before the heat rebounds and makes the egg too hot to hold. A neat trick!

I've been doing it the way that Sara Moulton mentioned on her show many years ago - put the eggs in a saucepan covered with water. Bring it to a boil, not a hard boil. Turn off heat. Cover and let sit on a cold burner for a specific amount of time (I think she said 13 minutes but I do it for 16 minutes).

Remove carefully. Crack. Peel.

I find that if I crack them a bit and then refrigerate for awhile, they peel much easier.

So I am not really boiling per-say. This way I never over-boil, I never get a green line around the yolk, and I don't get that horrid sulphur smell you get from over boiling. Works well every time for me.

Oh, tsokolate. This is the ultimate comfort drink. What's great is that you can make it as thick or as thin as you like. It's a staple in our new year's eve dinner, great with cheesy, buttery ensaymada!

I tried but could not get the "perfect soft-cooked egg" by placing an egg taken straight from the fridge into 180F water, despite meticulously maintaining the water bath at eggsactly 180F for the six minutes the egg was immersed. The egg was considerably undercooked, with the whites fairly liquidy. I'm going to try egg-en.

Thank you, thank you! This was egg-citing to read because being a food nerd, I did always want to know egg-xactly how to boil the perfect egg. So thank you for shelling out this info!!!