So I order a boiled egg at ihop, everyone said it was weird. The cook had to YouTube how to boil an egg I found this ridiculous, everyone agreed I was insane for ordering a boiled egg.
My question is do you eat/order soft boiled eggs? Should a cook at a breakfast chain be able and have the knowledge to boil an egg.
Or are soft boiled eggs a premium item like eggs Benedict?
36 comments
If the chef had to look it up, then it’s likely not on the menu. So yes, it’s very weird to order food that is not on the menu.
>The cook had to YouTube how to boil an egg I found this ridiculous
And that’s when I leave the restaurant and not end up going home that night with an upset stomach.
>Or are soft boiled eggs a premium item like eggs Benedict?
Do people think this lowly of American cuisine đ
Personally I would expect a chef to be trained in all reasonable egg requests at a diner that serves breakfast eggs, but then again IHOP is a chain restaurant and probably has a lot of cooks coming and going, and I don’t order fancy eggs myself.
Diners are generally fried, scrambled or maybe poached for Benedicts but I’ve never even seen boiled on a menu.
I just…. Don’t know anyone who WANTS a freshly boiled egg on its own. Never seen it ordered in my life. It’s something you make because it’s easy to do ahead of time for convenience or as an ingredient for something else, not just something someone genuinely wants to eat on its own given the other options fresh.
You went to a chain restaurant and ordered something off menu. Most of the food there is not made fresh, it’s packaged and warmed up. They’re one step up from fast food. I’d never ask for anything off menu at IHOP, Applebee’s, etc.
It’s weird if they didn’t have it on the menu
I would consider ordering off menu at a chain restaurant to be a bit of a faux pas. Your request wasnât terribly unreasonable, but judging a likely overworked cook from having to look up how to best accommodate your request sounds jerky too me. Would you rather he just guess the time needed to boil an egg the way you want?
Old people like boiled eggs Iâm surprised they havenât got the request before
No one is gonna haul you off to the loony farm, but pretty crazy to order a boiled egg at IHOP.
American’s don’t order boiled eggs at restaurants, hard or soft. Best you can hope for is poached (if they have eggs benedict on the menu you should be able to just asked for a poached egg). When eating out we typically order eggs either fried or scrambled.
I make softboiled eggs all the time at home. You could have ordered poached.
State what you believe should be the hiring requirements and appropriate wages for an IHOP cook.
I eat them when I make ramen, definitely not for breakfast.
It’s a little odd that the cook didn’t know how to make them seeing as it’s the same process as a hard boiled egg, just less time.
You are insane for ordering it. It’s a very unusual breakfast food.
I make soft boiled eggs for myself at home, only cause I grew up having them. I never order them out. I usually get over easy at a breakfast place.
The cook had to look up how long to boil the egg, not how to boil it.
Never even seen a soft boiled egg in real life. We eat hard boiled but never out at a restaurant. I literally just had to google the difference between poached and soft boiled (just leaving the shell on vs not for those curious).
I love soft boiled eggs with buttered toast soldiers. I’ve never seen them on a menu now that I think of it. I make it at home.
I used to work at IHOP. We would soft boil eggs to order. I’ve never eaten one. But working there is why I know how to make them.
Yes, that’s an insane order. Are you European, visiting America? Did you ask for soldiers too?
Compared to normal ways to make eggs, soft-boiled would be incredibly rare (no pun intended) to find in a breakfast joint. Even hard-boiled wouldn’t be something anyone would order, normally, but soft-boiled? That’s just bizarre.
Of course he had to look it up, I guarantee he’s never heard anyone crazy enough to order it before, and almost certainly never made one, because outside of an extremely tiny minority, Americans don’t eat soft-boiled eggs. 3 minutes to boil a hard boiled egg, I think, but how long for a soft-boiled? Who knows?
I checked my local ihopâs menu and it doesnât even list soft-boiled eggs. Prep options are scrambled, over easy/medium/hard, and sunny side up.
So yeah, if itâs not on the menu itâs weird as shit to order it. Iâve personally never seen anyone order a boiled egg at a restaurant in my life.
I make soft boiled eggs at home, sure, but that’s the extent of it. I don’t expect a casual restaurant to have egg cups in its supply closet, and because you can’t SEE an egg cook in its shell I can understand why a cook would be a bit thrown by the order, what with having to find a timer and an ice bath.
âEveryone agreed I was insaneâ
âThe chef had to YouTubeâ
Itâs never too late to practice self awareness
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a soft-boiled egg in my life.
It’s crazy that you went to iHop, ordered something that isn’t on the menu, and was surprised that the teenager that’s cooking the food didn’t know how to make boiled eggs.
Former line cook at a chain restaurant
If it’s not on the menu, I don’t know how to cook it.
The job of a line cook is to consistently reproduce a cooking method after having been taught (as well as maintain the cleanliness of the kitchen and follow all applicable health codes).
This is at odds with a chef whose job is to run a kitchen which involves tasks like ordering food, creating a menu, training line cooks, etc…
Your typical chain restaurant will have 0 chefs. That’s the business model. The chain takes care of all of the higher kitchen functions so that each individual kitchen can be run by drug addicts and teenagers.
[edit – my point here is that a chef should know how to boil an egg. They went to school for that. Most cooks in chain kitchens did not go to culinary school IME.]
Nobody orders boiled eggs at a restaurant. And soft boiled eggs arenât really a thing here: If theyâre boiled, theyâre hard-boiled.
Yeah, this is my first time hearing of a soft-boiled egg. Also, I don’t know if a soft-boiled egg from a chef that didn’t know what it was originally would be good. So yes, it’s an unreasonable order.
In the US at a chain restaurant yes that is unusual. If a local non chain breakfast specific place, something that is open from like 6am-2pm, you should be able to order soft boiled egg. I order basted egg at these places.
>My question is do you eat/order soft boiled eggs?
Sometimes! I really like ’em.
>Should a cook at a breakfast chain be able and have the knowledge to boil an egg.
No, you went to an IHop.
It’s not so much about it being “premium,” but more that the cooks there are paid to know what’s on the menu — and as someone else said, it is kinda seen as “weird” to order something that’s not off the menu. While it’d be nice if they knew how to do it, I wouldn’t expect it.
If you went to a restaurant that was a bit more “professional,” on the other hand, then maybe.
I wouldn’t order it. It’s not a normal menu item and soft boiled eggs are persnickety when it comes to timing them just right.
At an American restaurant, your choice for breakfast eggs is pretty much either fried or scrambled, with options on how it’s fried (over easy, sunny-side-up). A hard-boiled egg is more of a lunch item that goes into a salad here, and not all restaurants serve salads with eggs in them. It’s also deviled or pickled, but they’re served that way more a party hors d’oeuvre than a menu item. Soft-boiled is super rare for any meal.
IHop is a fast food restaurant set up to fry or scramble eggs, possibly poach, but even that would be unusual. If you want it like a hard boiled egg ask for “over hard”, for soft “over medium” but don’t be surprised if it comes “over easy” and runny bc not all wait staff knows the difference.
It is not super common to eat soft boiled eggs. If Americans are eating boiled eggs we typically go for hard boiled eggs, and if we are eating them at restaurants it is typically a topping on a salad or the like. Because of this most people would need to look up the timing for getting a soft boiled egg.
Itâs not weird per se, but itâs certainly not an ordinary breakfast item in the US. I wouldnât really expect an IHOP cook to know how to do it immediately, but it is just boiling an egg. Itâs nothing too wild.
1.I neither eat nor order soft boiled eggs
2. Knowledge to boil an egg is different than the ability to prepare it. It has been a hot minute since I worked at IHOP, but when I did there was a griddle and a microwave. No pots and pans.
3. Eggs Benedict aren’t a premium item, they are a specific menu item unto itself. A premium item is upgrading your shredded hash browns to quartered potatoes.
Iâm always surprised when people here talk on behalf of all Americans as to what Americans eat.
Iâm pretty sure thereâs an age element and perhaps a regional element to this. Thereâs also a type of restaurant element. The last time I had breakfast at a real NYC diner, several years ago, they didnât flinch at my ordering just poached eggs (which they did well). Iâm sure they could have done soft boiled, but I didnât feel a need to fuss with shells.
Theyâre certainly something that I had in my youth. Eventually we got [something like this](https://cdn.cutleryandmore.com/assets/product/main/31041.jpg), perhaps pre-Teflon. Everyone calls it a poacher, though technically I think theyâre for coddled eggs. Theyâre easier to use at home, without having to learn the fine art of true egg poaching nor deal with the hot shell of a soft boiled egg.
I wouldnât assume that an IHOP can make boiled eggs for breakfast but neither would I be surprised if they could. If a diner or a non-chain restaurant said âeggs any styleâ, Iâd assume they know how to boil an egg. I suspect theyâve fallen out of favor because of the skill required to eat them out of the shell, and because modern parents donât have the time to focus on making them or teach their 4yo how to eat them. Itâs less hasssle to scramble a batch for the entire family, though not necessarily faster.
But I donât actually know how common they are.