The Elegant Soft Boiled Egg

So, when I was 17 and working alone in Hamburg, Germany, I lived in a lovely little pension on Rothenbaumchaussee. The house frau served a wonderful breakfast of granola, or muesli, with yogurt, and soft boiled eggs on the side. This breakfast kept me going through a very cold autumn. With 12 appointments a day, all over the city, and not enough money to take taxis everywhere, I needed lots of fuel. However, despite my diet consisting in large part on the noble egg, I still came home at the end of the year with Pneumonia.

Soft boiled eggs are the most delicious way to eat an egg. My grandmother always ordered her eggs cooked soft boiled. As a small child, I would to cringe at this, but now, I see that this preparation is the best way to experience the dynamism of an egg. Well, maybe the delicately whipped eggs sprinkled with caviar that I once had at Maxim's, in NYC, top the soft boiled egg, but mostly for the presentation: the eggs were served with little silver spoons that had been warmed, and that fit neatly inside the shells, which had been cut open in a perfect circle. The caviar was the best I had ever had at the time. Ah, modeling was rarely so grand, but it certainly helped to develop my tastes as an adult. 

So, I just finished my morning meal of soft boiled eggs and a slice of Ezekiel bread. Yum! Really messy, but so worth it.