I’m curious. I’ve tried steaming my eggs twice and both times they’ve come out practically raw after 6 minutes. Like, the white is still liquid and barely opaque. I put them back in the steamer for another 6 minutes. Still not even close. Another 6 minutes, and they’re passable, but they’re more cooked on one side than the other. Any idea why this is? I know a lot of people steam their eggs and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I boil a couple inches of water. Place the eggs in the steamer basket. Cover. Set the timer for 6 minutes. Scoop them out and place in ice bath. And they’re still raw. I just don’t get how other people are getting such perfect results.

Anyway I can’t do soft boiled eggs on my gas stove. I’m a poor student again and had a craving for noodles haha, and I want to soup up the noodles with a soft cooked egg and a can of tuna. I was using my mother’s method before I got my egg cooker, probably learnt from my grandmother: cold water, put eggs in bring to boil and switch off. Leave on stove for require time then run cold water into pot until water in pot is cold. But it’s difficult to make soft runny eggs like that, it’s different for every stove, I learnt on electric stove with exposed elements. Also it no longer works for my mum she has induction now. Plus you have to put something in the water (baking soda or vinegar or salt or combination) so the shells don’t stick. I read online recently that steaming is the way forward, it seems it is both reliable and consistent, stove type doesn’t seem to matter. The egg cooker in fact steams the eggs. Hmm perhaps I could experiment on times for the egg cooker, and just time it while I am working out how to permanently mark the measuring cup. The amount of water added to the egg cooker dictates the steaming time.

I love that you as a fellow scientist (once a scientist always a scientist) wrote this for us. I am trying it with my bamboo steamer basket today. I’m excited to see the results.