There are so many ways to boil an egg. Hot water, cold water, high heat, low heat, however many minutes, or however many minutes turn off the heat and keep the lid on, put a match inside, use fresh eggs, etc etc. I just don't think any of those methods are easy enough for me. I use one of these egg timers for a no fail soft boiled egg. Just put the eggs in cold water at the same time as the timer, and boil at any kind of heat you want, then take the eggs out and immerse in cold water as soon as the timer shows your desired egg consistency. I find the eggs less likely to crack when you put them in cold water.
If you have problems peeling your boiled egg because the membrane sticks to the shell, it's because the egg is too fresh and the moisture between the 2 membranes have yet to evaporate, so they stick together and you can't peel it apart. Ever since i started buying organic free range eggs, which are only available from USA or Australia, I haven't had this problem anymore, I'm guessing because they are less fresh than local or Thai eggs due to the distance or the lower demand hence longer time on the shelf? I once actually boiled a whole pack of local eggs for my confinement vinegar and all 12 eggs stuck to the shell, hence I stand by this explanation. Any scientists out there please correct my dumb hypotheses. Some websites say that putting the cold egg in boiling water will cause it to tense up and release the membrane, but i've tried it and don't think that is guaranteed to work. I honestly think it depends on the egg.
To make these Japanese jammy soft boiled eggs perfect for ramen, use Japanese brand eggs from the supermarket, because only they will help you achieve this super eggporn orange yolk which doesn't happen with normal eggs. Legend has it that Japanese chickens are fed flower petals or carrot powder (or other things with carotene) to make the egg yolks a brighter color so that it looks more appetising when you eat raw eggs over rice, which Japanese people commonly do. Soft boil the eggs using the best and most used kitchen device in my kitchen - the egg timer. Put the eggs in cold water and peel when cooled, then put them in the smallest Tupperware that can fit all the eggs you are making. Fill the Tupperware with equal parts soy sauce and mirin to the top, then add a sweetener. If you don't fill it to the top, part of the exposed egg (they float) will not be colored. I used brown sugar at the time of this photo, but i no longer use refined sugar in my home (insulin helps cancer grow!!), so i would recommend using agave syrup or omitting a sweetener completely. Store the eggs in the fridge overnight and enjoy them with your noodles the next day! Honestly this is not for everyone...I mean it really takes the kind of person who plans meals, even the simple ones like noodles, ahead a day in advance to make this. Take the eggs out of the sauce the next morning because if you store them any longer they get way too salty. I never realised how porous egg whites were till i tried to eat one of these soaked in the sauce for 2 days - kidney damage waiting to happen. Once soft boiled the eggs can only be kept for about 2 days so you have to finish them fast.
Interesting side story as usual - The day i ate these eggs, it was March 22, 2019. I took the above photo of the eggs over my matcha soba in peanut sauce and just when i was about to dig in, I got the call from the nurse at my breast surgeon's office informing me that my biopsy results came in and that I had cancer. "It's ductal carcinoma in situ" (we later realised that this was not what I had, because the large DCIS tumor had a small 5mm portion on the edge of it, which the biopsy couldn't reach, that had already become invasive carcinoma). She said it so matter of factly and with no emotion like she's calling to confirm a lunch reservation or something. I didn't cry but i was in shock for like 30 minutes while i told Jerry and we held hands looking at each other in utter shock, realising immediately that I could die, after a life of only 3 short years together. I have never feared death before, but i just felt so sorry for him, to have to deal with this bullshit and potentially be left to raise our daughter alone. I felt like a fraud that had scammed him into this shitty situation. So we googled it for a bit and the results were so intensely horrible - mortality rates, chemotherapy, mastectomies, hair loss - that we decided to put it on the back burner and deal with it after we saw doctor the next day. Then Jerry disappeared to cry for a bit. And i went back to eat my eggs. I still didn't cry and they were so freaking delicious. But that was probably the only thing i enjoyed eating for the entire month to come.
I didn't know it back then, but I know now that medical professionals are so cold not just because my breast surgeon operates on over 200 breast cancer patients plus God knows how many suspected but non cancer cases per year, but also because so so so so so many people will recover within the year and this whole incident will be just a tiny blip in their memories. The fact that the 5 year survival rate for stage 2 breast cancer is only 93%, is because there literally are many crazy people in this world who for some reason do not get treated immediately, look for alternative treatments like acupuncture or juicing to cure their cancer, or do not take care of themselves well after diagnosis. While i so desperately looked for doctors and nurses to hold my hand and tell me that i'll be alright instead of talk to me in emotionless restaurant reservation manner, and I did find these wonderful angels in my life to whom I will be eternally fucking grateful for, i would eventually get over it and not even remember why I made such a huge deal about surgery or chemo or anything. Things just become the new normal, and you realise that life can still be good.
The jammy Japanese egg will forever in my memory be the start of my worst nightmare, and also the start of my new life where i appreciate things that shake me to my core and change me, always for the better if you make it for the better.