5:10

Can we talk? It won't take long. And it just might change your life. Maybe!

The month of May motored by, June joined the fray and, what do you know, it's already almost over! Are you busy? I sure am - leaving my job, planning a trip to Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Switzerland, writing letters like there ain't a tomorrow, and, as if that weren't enough, throwing moving into the mix.

In such helter-skelter times I'm happy to turn to the egg. The ever-dependable, infinitely-variable egg. Whether it be the blue or brown spotted or pale green pride of a chicken, the freckled find of a quail, or, with good fortune like mine, a dozen duck eggs bulging out of their carton. The latter have nearly impenetrably strong shells and yolks so luminous and large, so thick and viscous, I am nothing but in awe. They are some eggs.

And how do I eat all these eggs? Let me count the ways! Sizzled in olive oil to a crisp, brown-laced edge. So softly scrambled as to be barely set. Poached in a gauze of white. Hard-boiled, straight-up with a shake of salt. "Poochie" in a little egg cup with a spoon and strips of buttered toast. My family tends to invent words and "poochie" is our term for soft-boiled. It's a style I've been rather enamoured with lately.

Now, there are many, many, many schools of thought regarding the proper technique for the perfect hard or soft-boiled egg. Should you add the eggs to cold water then bring it to a boil or add the eggs to already boiling water? Should you simmer them for 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 minutes or should you take them off the heat immediately, clamp on a lid and let them sit for 10 or 11 or 11-and-a-half or 12 minutes? How do you choose your method? And, in all that crush of information, how do you remember it?

Well, one night at work there was a special - salmon, I think - served with a soft-boiled egg. The most gorgeous soft-boiled egg I'd ever had the pleasure of partaking in - its yolk a gush of gold wrapped in fragile, creamily-set white. I asked my co-worker how he did it and all he said was 5:10. What? Then it came back to me - last summer, borrowing the Momofuku cookbook from the library, copying out all the recipes to do with egg-cookery, forgetting about them.

I went home, found the recipe, put on some water, plopped in an egg and soon enough had my own glorious soft-boiled specimen. I made another the next morning for breakfast. I've been making them this way ever since. Perfect and perfectly easy soft-boiled eggs! Put them on top of anything - be it salad, vegetable or grain - and you'll never be hungry again. That's the life-changing part.

Perfect Soft-Boiled Eggs (aka 5:10 Eggs)

From Momofuku

Large eggs, as many as you like

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Gently lower the eggs, in their shells, into the boiling water with a slotted spoon or spider. (Some will crack, though they should still be usable even if they're not beautiful). Set a kitchen timer for 5 minutes and 10 seconds from the moment the eggs go into the water, and prepare an ice water bath for the eggs in a large, deep mixing bowl.

When the timer rings, use the spoon or spider to transfer the eggs to the ice water. Peel the eggs when they are cool enough to handle, cracking them open on a cutting board and then peeling them underwater, in the bowl. (The little bit of water that sneaks in between the shell and the white helps with the peeling). Reserve the eggs in the fridge until ready to use, or for up to 8 hours. Warm them for a minute under hot running tap water before serving.

Makes as many as you decide to make!