Eggs: 6 Methods, 6 Textures, 0 Failures

Every egg style comes down to how much heat you give it and for how long. Scramble on your lowest burner for 4 to 5 minutes, poach in water held around 180°F for 3 minutes (runny) or 4 minutes (just set), and fry for about 90 seconds over medium-low to baste or medium-high for crispy edges. Boiled eggs are the one style that goes into a full boil.

Pull every egg before it looks done.

Egg proteins start to set around 140°F and are fully firm by about 160°F. That 20-degree window is the whole game, and a pan that's slightly too hot blows through it before you can react. Eggs keep cooking off the heat, so the cook who pulls early wins.

Heat and time for each method

Scrambled and poached: the gentle ones

Pick the French scramble when you want large, glossy curds that hold their shape without weeping. You need a non-stick pan, a silicone spatula and patience.

1. Start cold. Crack 3 eggs into a cold pan with a generous knob of unsalted butter. Don't whisk them first.
2. Stir from the start. Set the burner as low as it goes and move the eggs in slow figure-eights across the whole base of the pan.
3. Wait it out. For the first 60 to 90 seconds nothing seems to happen. Keep stirring until soft curds form.
4. Pull early. Take the pan off the heat while the eggs still look underdone and stir for 20 more seconds.
5. Finish off the heat. Season with flaky salt and stir in a spoonful of crème fraîche or cold butter.

If you get small, rubbery curds sitting in a watery puddle, the heat was too high. There's no saving those.

Pick poached eggs for a smooth, compact white around a warm liquid yolk. Skip the vinegar swirl. Fresh eggs don't need it, because their whites are tight and stay close to the yolk. Use a wide pan with at least 3 inches of water at a bare simmer, with small bubbles clinging to the bottom and a calm surface. Crack each egg into a ramekin, lower it to the water and tip the egg in. Lift it out with a slotted spoon and blot the underside on a towel.

Ragged, trailing whites mean the water is too hot or the eggs are too old. Save older eggs for scrambling and frying, where it doesn't matter. Brunch lines poach ahead, hold the eggs in ice water and rewarm them in hot water for about 30 seconds at service. That's worth copying at home if you're feeding six people, and pointless for two.

Related: Poaching: Why Your Eggs and Fish Turn Rubbery (Fix)

Fried and boiled: when to use more heat

Pick the basted egg when you want a tender white and a runny yolk. Cook it in butter over medium-low, tilt the pan and spoon the pooled butter over the white until it sets. Pick the crispy-edged egg when you want lacy brown edges. Use olive oil or clarified butter over medium-high, and check the underside with a thin spatula. The fat you choose changes the flavor as much as the texture.

Neither one gets a lid. Covering the pan steams the yolk and leaves the grey film people know from diner eggs. Fry two or three eggs at a time at most, since a crowded pan drops in temperature and cooks unevenly.

Boiled eggs are the reverse of every other style here. Lower fridge-cold eggs into water that's already at a full boil, then move them to ice water the moment the timer goes. The ice bath stops carryover cooking, which is what turns a hard-boiled yolk chalky and green at the edges.

When should you salt eggs?

Salt scrambled eggs at the end, fried eggs after the white sets and poached eggs on the plate. Salt on raw whites draws out moisture and can leave them pitted.

Runny yolks are a choice with a food-safety cost. The USDA recommends cooking eggs until both yolk and white are firm and egg dishes to 160°F. If you're cooking for someone pregnant, very young, elderly or immunocompromised, buy pasteurized eggs or stick to the hard-boiled and fully set styles.

Related: How to Temper Eggs (Without Scrambling Them)

If you're only going to fix one habit, turn the burner down for scrambled eggs and take them off while they still look wet.