Boiled Eggs: Cold Water or Hot Water? Different Colors, Learn Something New
Eggs are one of the most commonly consumed ingredients, rich in nutrients, inexpensive, and suitable for people of all ages, often referred to as the best value supplement. The most nutritious ways to eat eggs are two: steamed egg custard and boiled eggs. Recently, there has been a hot topic online: when boiling eggs, should cold water be used or hot water? Many people don't know about it.
A large part of people who cook eggs wait until the water boils before putting the eggs in. They cook for about 10-15 minutes, take them out and put them in cold water to cool down, and then eat them. This method has two small shortcomings: 1) If you boil with hot water, it's easy to break the eggshell and turn into egg custard; 2) After peeling the cooked eggs, there is a layer of 'gray-green' substance on the yolk (see the right side of the picture).
This 'gray-green' substance is actually sulfur and iron elements from inside the egg, which react chemically when suddenly exposed to high temperatures. This results in sulfide iron, which is gray-green in color. It doesn't affect the taste much, but it can affect digestion and absorption to some extent.
The correct way to do it is to first clean the eggs with cold water. Then, directly put them in cold water, and cook for about 8 minutes after the water boils, then turn off the heat and let it steam for 5 minutes (or cook for 10 minutes directly). This not only makes it easier for eggs to avoid cracking the shell, but after peeling the shell, the color of the yolk inside is golden yellow, which is beautiful and delicious.
If you don't want to eat fully cooked eggs, you can just cook them for 6 minutes, and the yolk will be half-cooked with a sugary center. If you cook them for 7 minutes, the yolk will be slightly solidified or with a slight sugary center. Everyone can decide the cooking time according to their own taste preferences. But no matter how long you cook, it's cold water first, then calculate the time after the water boils.
Let's talk about the popular 'half-cooked egg' again, and mention that many people like to eat raw eggs, believing that it's the best way to retain nutrients. In fact, there's a small misunderstanding here. While raw eggs do have a slightly better nutritional value, the difference is very small. However, eating raw eggs contains bacteria that not only affect digestion and absorption but also cause diarrhea.
You can directly eat raw eggs, but they must be sterile eggs, from the mother chicken and feed, with high standards. Such eggs are also more expensive. The eggs we usually buy don't meet the standard for eating raw. And now everyone doesn't lack that little nutrition, so it's best not to eat raw eggs, and cooking them is better.
When boiling eggs, should cold water be used or hot water? The color after cooking is different (the left side of the picture is cold water boiling, and the right side is hot water boiling). Many people don't know. Simply put, after cleaning the eggs, put them in cold water first, cook for 8 minutes, and then steam for 5 minutes to see the knowledge. Okay, that's all the introduction. If you like this article, please share it, thank you!
