— Hilda P J

So this sounds like a cooking eggs in the shell sort of a question. We often call this boiled eggs. More technically, they're probably simmered eggs. But nonetheless, there are a couple of approaches. And as Hilda writes here, you can start out with eggs in cold water or in hot water. There are some variables here, so I'm going to send you to find somebody's reference, Hilda, okay, to start with. Because these come down to one-minute intervals, and I don't have them all memorized right now. But so the big variable is going to be your cooking surface and the size of the pot that you're going to use, okay? And especially if you're starting with cold water, because it's going to take a certain amount of time to heat a certain amount of volume based upon the BTUs or that heat energy coming out of your stovetop. And so that's where the variables lie. If you want to start with cold water. It'll also vary to some extent by the number of eggs that you have in that pot. Now, on the other hand, if you're starting with hot water, some simmering water, you can load up your eggs. Again, the number of eggs is a variable because the introduction of the eggs to that hot water will drop the temperature, and then the recovery time, or the time to bring the temperature back up to a simmer, will depend upon how many eggs were placed in the pan and how cool the water became. Okay, so even when you consult some of these charts that give these suggested cooking times, like nine minutes for something that's soft cooked, there's going to be some variability that you get to play with and you get to fine-tune based upon your particular situation. Okay? So I think the important information to take away here is to understand that there are variables and what those are. And then as you consult one of these charts to determine whether you want to start to work with nine minutes or 10 or eight, try to control for those variables. Take notes along the way. I'm a big fan of taking notes when I'm experimenting or doing a new recipe or altering a sauce for the first time or the second or the third time, so that I can make it better with each go around. And I hope you'll give that a try. Of course, there are different extents of a soft-cooked egg in the shell as well. So that's another variable to think about, and you get to find to which degree of doneness within that soft category you prefer. All right, so have fun with the process, take good notes along the way, and enjoy eating some eggs, too.