Italian physicists find out How to make the breakfast egg perfect
There is much debate about the right way to boil eggs. An Italian team of physicists presents a new method.
09.02.2025, 07:37
09.02.2025, 07:41
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- Italian physicists have discovered how to boil the perfect egg.
- The challenge is that egg white and egg yolk need different temperatures.
- The best thing to do is to alternate between boiling the egg for two 32 minutes at 100 and 30 degrees Celsius.
This leads to a better structure and preserves more nutrients in the egg than other techniques, the group writes in the specialist journal "Communications Engineering". The secret: the egg is alternately immersed in boiling and warm water.
Eggs pose a particular challenge when cooking because the egg white and yolk require different temperatures for optimum preparation - according to the team, this is around 85 degrees for the egg white and 65 degrees for the yolk.
Simply cooking at 100 degrees could result in a completely firm egg yolk. However, if the eggs are placed in a water bath for an hour at temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees, as in the sous-vide method, the egg white is often insufficiently heated.
Simulated with fluid mechanics software
In order to optimize the preparation of the eggs, the researchers calculated the heat conduction in the egg and simulated the process using fluid mechanics software. Their new recipe: instead of keeping the egg at a constant temperature, they alternately place it in water at a temperature of around 100 degrees and around 30 degrees for two minutes at a time.
This takes place for a total duration of 32 minutes, which is not very suitable for everyday use. The egg white becomes sufficiently firm due to the high temperatures. It is 100 to 87 degrees in hot water and 30 to 55 degrees in cooler water. In contrast, the egg yolk remains at a constant temperature of around 67 degrees using the technology - which is good for a creamy consistency.
"This special thermal profile enables optimal cooking of the egg in all its parts," writes Pellegrino Musto's team from the National Research Council in Pozzuoli near Naples.
Rigorous tests show: Great consistency and nutrient content
Using infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and other methods, the researchers compared the egg with hard-boiled, soft-boiled and sous-vide eggs and found out: Their approach, which they call periodic cooking, not only leads to a better consistency of the egg, but also to a higher nutrient content than other methods.
Among other things, they analyzed the flavonoid content. According to the researchers, the egg white consistency of periodically cooked eggs is relatively similar to that of soft-boiled eggs. The difference: "With soft-boiled eggs, the yolk is too runny in practice, especially in the middle, i.e. uncooked," explained co-author Ernesto Di Maio from the University of Naples. "With periodic cooking, the yolk is perfectly, evenly and safely cooked."
According to the study, the egg yolk is similar to that of sous-vide cooking. The researchers write that periodic heat treatment generally offers promising possibilities for innovative cooking techniques and also for material processing. Hardening, crystallization and structuring of materials are just some of the possible applications.
