So here's my version of this classic:
- Start your bread toasting. Use 1 slice for each egg you are cooking.
- Cover your eggs with water in the saucepan of your choice. If you can't cover them because they float, just use the amount of water it would have taken to cover them.
- If your pan is too flat or you can't cover the eggs, be sure to put a lid on it as the steam will help cook the exposed tops of the eggs.
- Cook the eggs for 4-6 minutes, depending on the temperature of your stove.
- At this point your toast should be up. Lay the toast flat on a plate but don't butter it yet.
- For me, soft boiled eggs just aren't right unless the toast is soft. The water should have been boiling for a minute or two now. Spoon some of the boiling water over the toast to soften it. One or two spoonfuls should cover a single piece of toast. The Salmonella-paranoid will want to skip this step. However, if you use other water instead, try to warm it separately as cold water will ruin the toast and the temperature of the whole dish.
- If you want to butter your toast, now it the time. Putting butter (or margarine for that matter) on wet toast can be fun. Just pretend it is working, we'll chop everything up later anyways so no one will know if it isn't even.
- The eggs should be done or close by now. Drain the water and cover them in fresh cold water. This will stop the cooking but the eggs will have enough residual heat to stay warm. Try not to pour the cold water directly on the eggs as they may crack prematurely on you.
- Crack the first egg over a frying pan. If you have hideously under judged the amount of time you will need, the yoke will be too runny. Worst case, you can cook the rest of the eggs for another minute or so and scramble this one (hence the frying pan). Cracking over the frying pan will also prevent egg shell crumble on your toast (a mistake I've made before in a rush).
- Try to get the rest of the eggs out and cracked as soon as you can handle them as this will make the whole dish more enjoyable.
- I find properly cooked eggs come out of the shell really nicely with a very round butter knife or small spoon. If you have trouble, practice. I find problems are usually caused by how I cracked the egg (either too close to one end or a bad diagonal crack) and not because of how the egg was cooked.
- With the eggs now on the toast, slice up both. I usually try to make a checkerboard pattern with my cuts. This gets a little egg with each piece of toast plus makes for nice bit-sized pieces.
- Salt gently or liberally depending on your doctor's permission and your mood.
- Enjoy!
All in all this can be a pretty healthy meal, especially if you use your whole wheat or multigrain toast and ease up on the salt. But don't forget step 14 as it makes all the difference! Happy eating!
