The perfect boiled egg is a matter of taste. For most people, it’s probably some variation of soft-boiled: not very runny, but not hard either. So how do you make your eggs? Do you just eyeball a 5-6 minute boil?

Italian scientists claim to have found the scientifically best way to make a hard-boiled egg. After trying it for ourselves, we can confirm that the egg was delicious.

The perfect boiled egg has a velvety yolk paired with a soft, solid white. Achieving this balance can be a challenge because the yolk cooks at a lower temperature than the white. Hard boiling an egg can yield a chalky yolk, while cooking low and slow can produce jelly-like, undercooked whites.

There’s no single method to boil an egg, but a team at the Italian National Research Council’s Institute for Polymers, Composites, and Biomaterials now believe there is a “perfect” way to cook them. In order to make it, however, you’ll need some patience and a watchful eye.

The scientists devised a way of cooking an egg that requires no special culinary skill or fancy gadgets. It took about 300 eggs, though the researchers “didn’t eat all of them,” said Pellegrino Musto, a polymer expert at the National Research Council of Italy.

Researchers say they've discovered a way to boil an egg that cooks both the white and yolk to perfection. Here's how you can do it at home.

New research uncovers a revolutionary method that optimizes egg white and yolk texture, changing how we boil eggs at any age.

Researchers have developed a new method for boiling eggs, alternating between hot and lukewarm water, to achieve the perfect texture.

Boiling eggs just got a scientific upgrade. By alternating an egg between boiling and cool water, researchers have found a way to cook both the yolk and white optimally — leading to better texture and higher nutritional content than traditional methods.