The perfect soft-boiled egg…why is it so hard to achieve? I like a soft-boiled egg–set whites, slightly firm yolk with a bit of runny right in the middle–on toasted brioche, but it’s a struggle to get it right (especially before my first cup of coffee). Sometimes the yolk is too runny, other times the white hasn’t set: despite using the same pot, the same level of heat, and the same timing. Oh, sure, hard-boiled is easy, but a soft-boiled orb straddling the line between liquid and solid is a challenge.
Or it WAS a challenge, before I acquired a handy-dandy, $6 drop-in-the-pot egg timer. The heat-sensitive plastic chunk changes colors from red to black, showing the egg’s progress from liquid to solid. Hallulejah! I can use any pot, any temperature, any egg and be assured of semiliquidity.
(Please don’t tell me that boiling a hunk of plastic is a bad idea. I figure that the eggshell is a sturdy, protective barrier against anything leaching out of the plastic timer.)
Bouillie 
Your eggs look like they came out exactly the way I like them. $6 is worth it.
Oh, I have the same ridiculous problem. Maybe I too need a plastic egg.
It was $6 at Williams-Sonoma, which means you can probably buy it at Wal Mart for $3.
I’ve had one for just about a year now and love it. I like mine right on the Medium/Soft line. Nice explanation – I’ve tried to explain to folks that this is different for just using a timer, but they don’t seem to get it.
Yes–it works so much better than just timing the egg after the water boils. It is foolproof–the only way to consistently get medium eggs, in my experience.