bubbling steamer will reduce the effective cooking temperature to something below the boil and produce a tenderer white Telling Cooked Eggs from Raw It’s easy to tell whether an intact egg is raw or already cooked Give it a spin on its side If it spins fast and smoothly, it’s cooked If it seems balky and wobbly, it’s raw — the liquid insides slip and slosh and resist the movement of the solid shell Times and Textures Cooking times for inshell eggs are determined by the desired texture (they also depend on egg size, starting temperature, and cooking temperature; the times here are rough averages) There’s a continuum of eggs cooked in the shell for different periods of time The French oeuf à la coque (“from the shell”) is cooked for only two or three minutes and remains semi-liquid throughout Coddled or “soft-boiled” eggs, cooked 3 to 5 minutes, have a barely solid outer white, a milky inner white, and a warm yolk, and are spooned from the shell The less familiar mollet eggs (from the French molle, “soft”), cooked for 5 or 6 minutes, have a semi-liquid yolk but a sufficiently firm outer white that they can be peeled and served whole Hard-cooked eggs are firm throughout after cooking for 10 to 15 minutes At 10 minutes the yolk is still dark yellow, moist, and somewhat pasty; at 15, it’s light yellow, dry, and granular Hard-cooking is sometimes prolonged for hours to heighten color and flavor (p 89) Chinese tea eggs, for example, are simmered until set, then gently cracked, and simmered for another hour or two in a mixture of tea, salt, sugar, and flavorings to produce a marbled, aromatic, very firm white Hard-Cooked Eggs A properly prepared hard-cooked egg is solid but tender, not rubbery; its shell intact and easy to peel; its ...outer white, a milky inner white, and a warm yolk, and are spooned from the shell The less familiar mollet eggs (from the French molle, “soft”), cooked for 5 or 6 minutes, have a semi-liquid yolk but a sufficiently firm outer... and somewhat pasty; at 15, it’s light yellow, dry, and granular Hard-cooking is sometimes prolonged for hours to heighten color and flavor (p 89) Chinese tea eggs, for example, are simmered until set, then gently cracked, and simmered for another hour or two in a... semi-liquid yolk but a sufficiently firm outer white that they can be peeled and served whole Hard-cooked eggs are firm throughout after cooking for 10 to 15 minutes At 10 minutes the yolk is still dark yellow, moist, and somewhat pasty; at 15, it’s light yellow,