How do you make the perfectly boiled egg? The great debate is reopened as people share their best practices – with a few tips from chefs too!

Delia Smith was once mercilessly mocked for teaching the nation how to boil an egg.

But after a recent study found that one in four adults doesn’t know how to do this seemingly simple kitchen task, she may be on to something.

While the debate rages on the best way to cook an egg to perfection, the Telegraph invited its readers to share their best tips, plus their favorite ways to eat a boiled egg.

One reader insisted that the top of the egg be removed with a precise knife movement, leaving the top of the yolk undamaged.

Malcolm Allen, from Berkhamsted, told the publication: ‘Half a slice of buttered toast should be cut into six soldiers, the first two angled to reach a point that can break through the vitelline membrane of the yolk.”

EExperts also have something to say about it. Most agree on a few things: using fresh eggs and boiled water is necessary. But after that, opinions differ greatly.

Here Femail brings you the sometimes wildly contrasting views on how to cook an egg.

How do you cook the perfectly boiled egg?

Citing various methods by Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Delia Smith, the letter writers note that there are many different ways to cook the perfectly cooked egg.

The Telegraph recipe columnist and author of the Friday Night Dinner cookbook, Eleanor Steafel, likes “six and a half minutes of boiling water for a yum yolk.”

She then advises to run it under the cold tap for 30 seconds afterwards.

The British Egg Industry Council recommends placing an egg in a saucepan with at least an inch of cold water and placing it over high heat.

It then says that once the water boils it should take three minutes for very soft-boiled yolk and set whites, four minutes for slightly set egg yolks and set whites, and five minutes for medium-boiled firmer yolks and whites.

They also have a trick to tell if the egg is done – if it wobbles as it spins, the yolk and white are still slightly runny, but if it swirls evenly in place, it means it’s fully cooked.

What about cooling down?

If you want to eat your egg at a colder temperature, either to save it for later or to stop the cooking process to preserve a perfectly soft yolk, you can run the boiled egg under the cold tap – or even in a dip bowl with water. ice water.

Gordon Ramsay has a rather obscure trick: breaking the eggs, blowing on them, putting them in water and blowing them back in, which he says also makes peeling easier.

According to the publication, the British Egg Industry Council helps prevent the formation of a gray line around the yolk by immersing eggs in water.

They add that the egg will shrink slightly in the water, making it easier to peel – just like using an egg closer to its expiration date. This is because the older the egg, the more the protein has separated from the shell.

How to eat it?

The classic way to eat a boiled egg is with buttered soldiers or thinly sliced ​​toast – but some say this is childish.

Eleanor Steafel recommends putting the whole egg on buttered toast, or maybe putting a touch of marmite on the toast first.

But Nigella isn’t even on toast. She suggests using asparagus soldiers to dip in the yolk instead.