Buzz
Following a series of devastating bird flu outbreaks, egg prices in the U.S. have soared past $4 per dozen, with New York seeing prices reach $7 and California $8. Even Waffle House has introduced an egg surcharge, and a trailer containing $40,000 worth of eggs was stolen from an organic farm in central Pennsylvania.
As eggs become the new luxury item, it’s worth investing more time and care into preparing them. Fortunately, a team of Italian engineers has developed the perfect solution.
In a groundbreaking study published in the journal Nature Communications Engineering, researchers from the University of Naples and their collaborators claim to have perfected the method for boiling eggs to perfection.
They began with a basic challenge of boiling eggs: the yolk and the white cook at different temperatures, with the white requiring 85°C (185°F) and the yolk cooking best at 65°C (149°F).
Many of us accept this reality and settle for hard-boiled eggs, where both the white and yolk are fully set after about 10 minutes in boiling water, or soft-boiled eggs, where the yolk remains runny after around five or six minutes. Brunch enthusiasts might opt for sous vide eggs, where the whites are set and the yolks rich and creamy, following around 40 minutes in water just below the boiling point at 60°C (140°F).
But these engineers believed there had to be a more efficient way, so they used computational fluid dynamics software to simulate the problem. The software suggested a method of alternating eggs between two pans: one at 100°C (212°F) and the other at a lukewarm 30°C (86°F). The ideal approach, according to the model, was to transfer the eggs between the two pans every two minutes for exactly 32 minutes. This process was named “periodic cooking.”
The researchers followed this method, and—true to their serious intent—they used nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers to analyze the eggs' chemical properties. Under such precise examination, the periodic-cooked eggs surpassed even sous vide, soft-boiled, and hard-boiled eggs in texture, consistency, and nutritional benefits. The chemical analysis revealed that the yolks from the periodic-cooking process had higher levels of polyphenols, a beneficial micronutrient.
In their paper, the scientists concluded that their “successful cooking experiment ... could spark new culinary innovations, demonstrating how an understanding of the science behind simple problems can enhance even the smallest parts of our everyday lives, such as the act of cooking and eating an egg.”
It also illustrates that cooking eggs can require as much time and mental effort as it does financial investment.
