Boiling an egg: to wash up, or not to wash up?

So this morning at work I decided to push the boat out and have a boiled egg for breakfast because I wanted the protein boost but I'm not hard enough to drink them raw like my main man Rocky B.

Anyway after boiling my egg (4 minutes, I like them runny :datass:

) I poured the boiling water out, gave the pan a quick rinse and wipe and put it back in the cupboard - job done, happy days, lets go and eat some lovely eggs. :toot:

Except I then get accosted by a guy in the kitchen who loses his gooseberry fool over the fact that I didn't fill the sink with hot soapy water and give the pan a "proper wash"! I explain that I did give the pot a rinse and wipe round and that it had just been holding boiling water for an egg so if anything was probably cleaner that it was to start with and that running a whole sink of soapy water to wash it up "properly" was a pointless waste of time and resources. Suffice it to say my response did not pass muster with this guy and he ended up practically having a seizure with rage! :lol:

So obviously I felt the need to put this to the GRcade test!

Am I Captain Disgustoid for not thoroughly scrubbing a pan after boiling an egg, or is this dude being an OCD germ fearing clean freak who needs to take a chill pill?

I would wash it up to be honest.

This is actually important - what type of hob is it?

I'm not angry with you, Jenuall. I'm just disappointed.

Hexx wrote:This is actually important - what type of hob is it?

Gas. The fuel of choice. :datass:

Preezy wrote:I'm not angry with you, Jenuall. I'm just disappointed.

But that's worse! :cry:

gross. do you not wash your knives and chopping boards either?! :dread:

I would do what you did at home, but wash it up properly in a shared office space, out of courtesy.

Jenuall wrote:
Hexx wrote:This is actually important - what type of hob is it?

Gas. The fuel of choice.

Ah, like an indoor barbecue?

I'd also just wipe the pan unless you managed to break the egg as like you said it's just hot water. The boiling water would also kill any germs anyway unless you live in a building with rock hard superbugs everywhere in which case you're all dead men walking anyway so who gives a gooseberry fool about washing up.

Do they also wash the kettle after every usage?

BID0 wrote:gross. do you not wash your knives and chopping boards either?!

How is that in any way the same?! Knives and boards have raw ingredients on them like meat etc.

The pan had boiling water in it - what is going to be left in there that warrants a deep clean? Do you wash your kettle out every time you use it?

Peter Crisp wrote:Do they also wash the kettle after every usage?

Boil your eggs in the kettle. Easy.

Jenuall wrote:
BID0 wrote:gross. do you not wash your knives and chopping boards either?!

How is that in any way the same?! Knives and boards have raw ingredients on them like meat etc.

The pan had boiling water in it - what is going to be left in there that warrants a deep clean? Do you wash your kettle out every time you use it?

Depends on water, but you could get "rings" from boiled water
Or the egg could crack and let gunk out.
Or general muck that can be on egg shell could be dried onto pan
Plus you've got to clean outside of pan due to gas (induction hob and I'd feel differently

)

I mean I'd still give it a good rinse/wipe under hot water

You already washed it up by boiling water in it, that guy sounds dumb

The water used for boiling the egg is supposed to be quite good for watering plants. So do that.

And then wash the pan. There might have been some chicken gooseberry fool on the shell.

Hexx wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
BID0 wrote:gross. do you not wash your knives and chopping boards either?!

How is that in any way the same?! Knives and boards have raw ingredients on them like meat etc.

The pan had boiling water in it - what is going to be left in there that warrants a deep clean? Do you wash your kettle out every time you use it?

Depends on water, but you could get "rings" from boiled water
Or the egg could crack and let gunk out.
Or general muck that can be on egg shell could be dried onto pan
Plus you've got to clean outside of pan due to gas (induction hob and I'd feel differently )

I mean I'd still give it a good rinse/wipe under hot water

The egg didn't crack and it had little in the way of muck on it! A good rinse/wipe is basically what I did, which I still think is sufficient!

Jenuall wrote:
Hexx wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
BID0 wrote:gross. do you not wash your knives and chopping boards either?!

How is that in any way the same?! Knives and boards have raw ingredients on them like meat etc.

The pan had boiling water in it - what is going to be left in there that warrants a deep clean? Do you wash your kettle out every time you use it?

Depends on water, but you could get "rings" from boiled water
Or the egg could crack and let gunk out.
Or general muck that can be on egg shell could be dried onto pan
Plus you've got to clean outside of pan due to gas (induction hob and I'd feel differently )

I mean I'd still give it a good rinse/wipe under hot water

The egg didn't crack and it had little in the way of muck on it! A good rinse/wipe is basically what I did, which I still think is sufficient!

On the outside as well? :capnscotty:

Please explain why you need to wash the outside of the pan because it was on a gas hob I genuinely want to know so I can dismiss it as madness

Last edited by Hexx on Wed Nov 14, 2018 12:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.

OrangeRKN wrote:Please explain why you need to wash the outside of the pan because it was on a gas hob I genuinely want to know so I can dismiss it as madness

Um soot? Hydrocarbaons burn into Carbon MonOxide, Water and Carbon (and that ignores other additives to the gas, or things like dust etc sucked in)

You're burning something - so off course there's going to be by-products - potentially "cooked on" the pan due to heat. You wouldn't get that on an induction hob.

Less likely on a well maintained cooker with a blue only flame, but still occurs (particularly if cooking at higher temps. I think. I might have got that wrong. Maybe it's lower temps. Temperature definitely matters)

Edit - I'm not saying that pan would be "Dear god it's filthy" but over time they'll be build up, so it's pretty standard to wash each time to prevent...rather than waiting for remnants to have built up to "critical mass"

The egg came from a chickens bum hole and some people don't eat eggs, if it's a communal pan then it's common courtesy to clean it after you use it.

That's a sentence I never thought I'd have to type out.

How's this thread going for you, Jenuall?

Boiling an egg: to wash up, or not to wash up?

Do you thoroughly wash your pans after boiling an egg?

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