The ready-made Dippy Egg, promising the perfect runny yolk every time, is the latest ready-wrapped pre-cooked food to tempt reluctant cooks.Reading this on mobile? Click here to view
Good news, ladies and gentleman. A "solution" has arrived for the age-old problem of making the perfect soft boiled egg. Remember how difficult that has always been? The sleepless nights? Afternoons in the library sifting through egg encyclopedias?
Well, praise be: the ready-made Dippy Egg is here, promising the perfect runny yolk. Every time. A pre-boiled egg. That you pour hot water on. In a cup. Like a Pot Noodle. That exists now.
According to Delia, the perfect runny egg takes 1 minute on a simmer, and then 6 minutes off the heat with a lid on. Well, stand aside Delia, because we could now be eating our ready-made soft boiled eggs in five - just five - minutes. What's more, you can leave this new dippy egg thing in hot water for longer and the yolk will still be runny (raising the question of what exactly is in that yolk). I'm sure the manufacturer Pork Farms thinks it's on to something big. But I really wish companies would stop meddling in the simple business of cooking eggs. A few years ago we got the pre-hard boiled egg (covered in a plastic film), again, "for those who didn't have the time or knack to prepare a boiled egg."
Then there was the Omelette starter paste from Marks and Spencer, for that special preserved mushroom taste. What next, ready made sunny-side-up eggs in a stamp-addressed envelope? Scrambled-egg in a can? Oh hang on, you can already get an all-day breakfast in a can.
It all began with those packets of pre-chopped mushrooms and carrots, ready-peeled potatoes, ready-made Yorkshire puds. The Pot Noodle style porridge (was a cereal box of porridge so time consuming?)
Then, before you knew it, a quicker solution to slapping a couple of rashers of bacon in a frying pan - enter pre-cooked bacon and pre-sliced apple, because who has time to take a knife out a drawer these days? And, best of all, pre-melted chocolate.
Something as simple as boiling an egg is a basic part of being a functioning human. If you can't do that what else don't you have time for? Putting your coat on? Brushing your hair? Going to the toilet?
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