Screen Soft Light / Timekeeping / EGG TIMER

Large eggs, cold start. Yolk soft in the middle, firm at the edge

06:00

Start the timer when the water reaches a full boil, then take the pan off the heat and cover it.

Space starts or pauses, R resets, F goes fullscreen.

No. 001 · EGG TIMER

Egg timer for soft, jammy, medium and hard boiled eggs

  • 01 Soft, jammy, medium, hard
  • 02 One method, start to finish
  • 03 Times from published sources

Choose how you want the yolk and the timer is set for you. The times are for large eggs started in cold water: bring the water to a full boil, take the pan off the heat, cover it and start the clock. A chime sounds when the eggs are ready.

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§ 01

How the egg times work

These times use the cold-start, off-the-heat method: the eggs go into cold water, the water comes to a full boil, and then the pan is covered and removed from the heat while the eggs finish in the hot water. The timer starts at the boil. The eggs are large. Smaller or bigger eggs need less or more time, and the American Egg Board gives 9 minutes for medium and 15 for extra large eggs when cooking them hard.

§ 02

With the cold-start method the eggs warm up with the water, so most of the difference between eggs from the fridge and eggs from the counter evens out before the timer starts.

Why the start temperature hardly matters here

With the cold-start method the eggs warm up with the water, so most of the difference between eggs from the fridge and eggs from the counter evens out before the timer starts. That is why the timer has no fridge or room-temperature setting. If your yolks come out a little firmer or softer than you like, cook the same way next time and move the time by 30 seconds.

§ 03

What jammy means here

Soft, medium and hard are published times. Jammy is the one we filled in ourselves: 4:30, halfway between the 3-minute soft and 6-minute medium times from Food Network Kitchen. Expect a set white and a thick, spoonable yolk. If it comes out too runny or too firm for you, switch to the next preset up or down.

§ 04

Where these times come from

Hard (12 minutes, large) and the cold-start method: American Egg Board, How to hard-cook eggs, https://www.incredibleegg.org/cooking-school/how-to-hard-boil-eggs/ (medium eggs 9 minutes, large 12, extra large 15). Soft (3 minutes) and medium (6 minutes), also large eggs started in cold water and covered off the heat at the boil: Food Network Kitchen, The Perfect Boiled Eggs, https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-perfect-boiled-eggs-3672186. Sources differ. Another Food Network Kitchen recipe gives hard-boiled eggs 8 to 10 minutes and uses simmering for soft and medium, so we used the egg board's size-specific 12 minutes, which also matches the first recipe. Times vary with your pan, stove and altitude.

Procedure

Three moves to peak output

  1. 01

    Pick the yolk you want

    Soft is 3 minutes, jammy 4:30, medium 6 and hard 12. Choosing one sets the countdown.

  2. 02

    Boil, then start the clock

    Put the eggs in a pan in one layer, cover with cold water by about an inch, and heat to a full boil. At the boil, take the pan off the heat, cover it and press Start egg timer.

  3. 03

    Stop the cooking

    When the chime sounds, move the eggs to ice water or run cold water over them. Pause, Reset and Fullscreen work as on any timer.

Inquiries

Questions worth asking

Q.01 How long should I boil an egg?
For large eggs started in cold water, 3 minutes after the boil gives a soft yolk, about 6 minutes a medium one and 12 minutes a hard-cooked one. The timer starts when the water reaches a full boil and you take the pan off the heat.
Q.02 Do I start the timer when I put the eggs in?
No. Start it when the water reaches a full boil, with the pan covered and off the heat. The time spent heating up is not counted, because it depends on your stove and your pan.
Q.03 Does this work for boiling eggs the other way, dropped into boiling water?
Not with these numbers. They are for the cold-start method. Dropping eggs into boiling water is a different method with different times, and Food Network Kitchen gives about 4 minutes for a soft egg that way.
Q.04 Can I change the time?
The presets set the countdown. You can use the plain online timer for any other length.
Q.05 Will the screen stay on while it runs?
On browsers that support the Screen Wake Lock API (Chrome, Edge and recent Safari) the page asks the screen to stay on while the timer runs. On other devices, turn off auto-lock for a few minutes. The countdown reads the clock, so it still finishes on time if the tab is in the background, but the alarm sound needs the page to stay open.
Cross-reference

Try adjacent plates