[jambutty]

Can someone confirm that if an egg floats in cold water it is NOT FRESH?

Whereas one that sinks IS FRESH. Or have I got it the wrong way around?

This raises the question of - after how many days is an egg no longer considered as fresh?

How long will an egg remain edible at room temperature? What about an egg kept in a fridge?

I only buy what are labelled as “Organic” eggs from Asda. There are two sizes, medium and large and I haven’t noticed any size reduction over the years. I buy the medium ones because they fit in the egg tray in the fridge, whereas the larger ones do not. Well they do but not side by side.

I understand that it is the wrong thing to do to keep eggs in a fridge. I’m told that they should be kept at room temperature especially if you are going to boil one. Maybe it is time for me to change my preference and the way that I store them?

The methods for boiling the perfect soft boiled egg are many and various but neither is right nor wrong, just what you prefer. I place a medium sized egg straight from the fridge into a saucepan nearly fill of cold water and set the stop watch going. Once the water starts to boil I turn the gas down so that it just simmers gently. After 5 minutes the job is done. It takes 6 minutes for a large egg.

Has anyone ever boiled an ostrich egg? I wonder how long it would take?

When cooking an egg the yolk will only start to cook at 70° C whereas the white will cook at about 65° C so for a soft boiled egg ideally the water temperature should never rise above 65° C but it would take 10 or 12 minutes or even longer to cook.

There are two basic ways to eat a soft boiled egg. I prefer to slice the top off the ‘pointy’ end to let the witch out, whilst others prefer to beat the end and peel off the broken shell. But most people seem to agree that the egg should be placed in the eggcup ‘pointy’ end upwards.

Do a Google for some interesting facts about boiling eggs. Believe it or not some boffin has come up with a formula for the ‘perfectly’ boiled egg.

I think that for my tea today I will have 3 lightly scrambled eggs on two slices of toast. Now scrambling eggs is an art if the end result is not going to be what is in effect a scrambled omelette.

Years ago you used to be able to buy a set of egg scrambling pans. These were a saucepan that you filled with water and a frying type pan that sat snugly on top of the saucepan. Once the water boiled you kept it simmering and scrambled you egg in the frying type pan. The gentle heat enabled you to make the perfect scrambled egg, although even then you should take the mixture off the heat before it was fully cooked. It’s own internal heat would finish off the cooking.