The method for cooking a perfect egg : NPR

Do you have what it takes to cook these guys perfectly?

Veni vidi … shoot/getty

hide caption

toggle caption

Veni vidi … shoot/getty

An Italian study published this week says researchers have found the way to cook a perfect egg — you’ll just need 32 minutes to make it happen.

Three things to know:

1. The research, published in Communications Engineering, found that the central challenge in cooking the perfect egg lies in its two part-structure. The albumen (or white) and the yolk require two different cooking temperatures.
2. Researchers developed a new method dubbed “periodic cooking,” which involves transferring the egg back and forth between 212 degree Fahrenheit water and 86 degree water every two minutes for a total of 32 minutes. This way, both parts of the egg are cooked at their optimal temperatures without needing to crack the shell open.
3. Their periodically cooked eggs were also found to have a higher nutritional content. Compared to other methods, the cooking technique better preserved the levels of polyphenols, a naturally occurring compound inside the yolk that is proven to help fight inflammation.

Listen to NPR’s Short Wave podcast for more discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines.

But what even is a perfect egg?

According to these scientists, it’s an egg that has the right texture and nutritional content, “with respect to traditional shell-on egg cooking techniques.”

But of course, they also recognize that the perfect egg is a matter of personal taste, and insist that this method can be tailored to better meet individual preferences.

Dive deeper with NPR