An egg yolk follows a different set of temperatures: • At 145°F: The yolk proteins begin to denature, thickening the liquid yolk • At 158°F: The egg yolk is firm, able to hold its shape and to be cut with a fork or knife Its appearance is still dark and translucent, with an almost fudge-like texture • Between 158° and 170°F: The yolk becomes firmer and firmer until eventually it suddenly shifts from translucent and fudge-like to pale yellow and crumbly as tiny spherical chambers invisible to the naked eye separate from each other • Above 170°F: The yolk becomes increasingly crumbly as the temperature goes up The sulfur in the white rapidly reacts with the iron in the yolk, creating ferrous sulfide, tingeing the outside of the yolk an unattractive green Boiling eggs is all about balancing the differences between the way the whites and the yolks cook SOFT-BOILED EGGS For me, the ideal soft-boiled egg has a white that’s completely opaque, but not to the point of rubberiness (somewhere in the range of 155° to 180°F), and a yolk that’s pretty much 100-percent liquid (no hotter than 158°F) In this way, with each spoonful, you get tender bites of soft, velvety-smooth white bathed in a sauce of glorious, bright golden, rich, flavorful yolk So, remembering that foods cook from the outside in and that the hotter your cooking environment, the greater the temperature gradient that forms in your egg, you realize that for soft-boiled eggs, you want to start with cold eggs and submerge them in hot water, so that the whites cook and set while the yolks remain liquidy I tried plunging the eggs directly into boiling water to cook until the whites were just set, but I ran into a problem: the outermost layers of the whites end up slightly overcooking A much better way to it is to bring a pot of water to a boil, shut off the heat, drop the eggs into it, cover the pot to help it retain some heat, and then start the timer Since the water in the pot gets cooler as it sits, the eggs stand much less of a chance of overcooking and turning rubbery The other important thing to consider is the ratio of water to eggs—add too many eggs, and they’ll cool the water down so much that they won’t cook properly So, 3 quarts is enough water to cook up to 6 eggs Any more than that, and you’ll want to cook in batches, or in a larger pot ... heat, and then start the timer Since the water in the pot gets cooler as it sits, the eggs stand much less of a chance of overcooking and turning rubbery The other important thing to consider is the ratio of water... problem: the outermost layers of the whites end up slightly overcooking A much better way to it is to bring a pot of water to a boil, shut off the heat, drop the eggs into it, cover the pot to...So, remembering that foods cook from the outside in and that the hotter your cooking environment, the greater the temperature gradient that forms in your egg, you realize that