[Image: Pexels]
A lot is happening in the world right now, but you still need to eat breakfast. Fortunately, scientists now claim to have developed a method for boiling the ‘perfect egg’, so there’s one less thing to stress over.
Boiling an egg perfectly is difficult because the albumen – or egg white – and yolk have distinct compositions that must be cooked at different temperatures to obtain the desired taste and consistency.
Scientists have officially broken the code using a process known as ‘periodic cooking’. The researchers used mathematical models and simulations to forecast how heat moves through the egg, allowing them to determine the optimal cooking conditions for both the albumen and the yolk.
This new method involves alternating the eggs between hot and lukewarm water cycles to “optimally cook the albumen and yolk simultaneously without separating them”, according to a new study published in the journal Communications Engineering.
Periodic cooking is said to produce the ideal texture and flavour for both the albumen and yolk, but it also helps the egg retain more of its nutrients compared with other popular methods such as frying and scrambling.
“People often forget that cooking is incredibly scientific … and adjusting cooking temperature to the properties and structures of the proteins within the egg can improve the quality.”
Fortunately, you don’t need a lab and can try this at home, but it takes considerably longer than normal boiled eggs. For the periodic method, alternate between dipping the eggs for two minutes in boiling water at 100 degrees Celsius and lukewarm water at 30 degrees Celsius. This cycle should be repeated eight times for 32 minutes.
According to science, this allows both the albumen and the yolk to achieve their ideal textures and consistency.
It might take a bit longer than a quick fry-up, but who doesn’t love a perfectly boiled egg?
[Source: CNN]
