Martha Stewart's Favorite Eggs Are Surprisingly Simple

When you have your own brood of chickens, you probably enjoy soft-boiled eggs more than most. It is because soft-boiled eggs are best when you are using fresh eggs. Enter Martha Stewart. Her approved tips to elevate your next egg dish are always welcome, and it just so happens that in an exclusive interview with our sister publication, Tasting Table, the media mogul shared that she can go right out to the chicken coup to get her eggs. Stewart revealed, "I raise my own chicken, and I have my own eggs. I get between 60 and 100 eggs a day at my house. I add it up — 31,500 eggs were laid at Bedford." 

It makes it convenient because her favorite way to have eggs is soft-boiled, which uses the steaming method. Luckily, the steaming technique is rather easy and requires nothing more than a pan with a lid and a rack. 

However, Stewart's favorite method of preparing her eggs is credited to someone else. Stewart explained, "The New York Times ran a one-page story a couple years ago by [J.] Kenji López-Alt. He said he spent 10 years developing the steamed egg thing. I do it exactly the way that he told us to do it."

To create her perfect eggs, Martha Stewart brings about an inch of water to a boil in a covered pan. Then, she shared, "Put the eggs in the rack over the boiling water, cover, and do either three minutes, three and a half minutes, four minutes, or five minutes." The less time you allow the eggs to steam, the runnier the yolk will be; however, let it steam a little longer, and it gets all nice and jammy.

The end result is what separates a hard-boiled egg from a soft. A hard-boiled egg, which is best using old eggs — laid no sooner than 14 days ago, turns the whites and yolks opaque, and as the entrepreneur and television host notes on her website, a hard-boiled egg "yields a rubbery result." Stewart likes to cook her soft-boiled eggs for four minutes. She explains this is the perfect amount of cooking time because "the white is set, but the yolk is still beautiful, gold, and runny."

However, it is important to note that the more eggs you cook at once, the longer it could take to achieve the texture and consistency you want. Steaming no more than four eggs at a time is the way to go if you want your soft-boiled eggs to be perfect. Egg size is also another factor to consider. Larger eggs need a little more time to get the soft-boiled, jammy egg bite you want.

If you are on the fence about trying this technique, there is another reason to consider it. The cookbook author also noted that there is a side benefit to this soft-boiled steamed egg. Stewart said, "The eggs not only are perfect for your taste, but they also peel perfectly. You can peel a soft-boiled egg with none of that silly struggling with the peel. It works, and that's the way I do it."

How can you use soft-boiled eggs? This protein-rich food is highly versatile. You can eat your perfectly soft-boiled eggs with toast soldiers – little strips of bread that have been buttered — or add them to a classic Italian salad or spicy shoyu ramen.