Why does it take 32 minutes to cook a perfect hard-boiled egg?
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Show Notes
A team of Italian researchers have developed a method for cooking the perfect hard-boiled egg, a task that has long frustrated home cooks.
Their research revealed that cooking an egg to perfection requires separate temperatures for its two main components: the egg white (albumen) and the yolk. The egg white cooks best at approximately 185°F, while the yolk requires a lower temperature of about 149°F.
The technique involves two pots: one with boiling water and another with water kept at around 86°F (30°C).
The eggs are first immersed in the boiling water for two minutes, then transferred to the cooler water for two minutes. This back-and-forth is repeated for eight full cycles, taking a total of 32 minutes.
The result is eggs with a perfectly cooked white and yolk, offering a rich taste, improved texture, and higher nutritional value than eggs cooked by conventional methods. The researchers were not aiming to patent this cooking method; rather, their goal was to show that the science behind everyday problems, even something as simple as cooking an egg, can make a noticeable difference.
Guest: Dr. Ernesto Di Maio - Professor of Science and Material Technology at the University of Naples Federico II and Director of FoamLab and Emilia Di Lorenzo, PhD Student in the Foam Lab
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