I recently taught Cecilia how to make soft scrambled eggs using low heat and a lot of attention. It’s definitely worth the effort to get the creamy, almost curdless, scramble, but it takes a good amount of time to do them properly. Not ideal for a quick weekday morning breakfast or lunch. But if you have time to boil water, then you have time for a well-cooked egg to add some protein to any meal.

This is a true back pocket recipe. The sum total of the recipe is in the title. If you want a perfect boiled egg to top your salad, noodles, oatmeal or messy breakfast sandwich, you only need about seven minutes.

All you have to do is fill a saucepan with enough water to cover a few large eggs, bring it up to a boil, then drop in the eggs (not literally please, use a spoon!), and set a timer for seven minutes.

You can try experimenting depending on how soft or runny you like the yolks. Seven will pretty firm all the way through. I like closer to 6:30 or 6:45 for a soft to jammy yolk.

Keep the water boiling, but don’t let it boil over. When the timer goes off, get the eggs off the heat and drain the water then run the eggs under cold water until cool to the touch and you are able to peel.

No more guess work. No more egg timers. Just seven or so minutes and a perfect egg.