Quest for the perfect egg comes to boil
Countless contraptions have been designed to make sure there is not too much egg white, the yolk is the perfect texture and the shell doesn't smash on heating.
Delia says you should never boil eggs straight from the fridge, Heston tells you to put them into hot water first and Michel Roux says to leave them in the pan for 30 seconds after boiling.
But in spite of their best efforts, the majority of people can never get it quite right.
And so Michael Baulf, of Golden Green, has thrown open the debate to the country through his letters to a national newspaper.
The Hartlake Road resident asked Daily Telegraph readers last month to share their eggscellent tips on how to cook his favourite food.
He wrote: "Sir, I am having a problem with my boiled eggs. The ratio of yolk to white appears to be reducing and my toast soldiers are suffering. Who should I blame?"
The former Hadlow parish councillor's plea for help prompted a flurry of replies from connoisseurs across the country.
One respondent recommended he move to Lincolnshire "where a dozen eggs purchased from my local farm shop provided 25 yolks". Another suggested he tried ostrich eggs, while Nick from Yorkshire said he should make meringues instead.
Mr Baulf said: "I fancied a boiled egg, after not having one for a while, and was horrified to find it was mainly white and very little yolk.
"It came as a bit of a shock. I felt as if someone had been tinkering with the eggs.
"The lovely thing about the boiled egg is the yellow bit – that's what it's all about.
"You stick your soldier in, it picks up all the nice yellow bit and the white bit is the sort of aftertaste. So I wrote to the paper to find out if anyone else had the same problem."
As a frequent contributor to the paper's letters pages for more than 20 years, Mr Baulf, who regularly commutes to Cheddar in Somerset where he owns a hardware shop, said the true number of replies could have reached the high hundreds.
"Of course, not all of them get their reply published, so this question obviously touched a raw spot with quite a few people," he added.
When asked whether he would be taking up any of the suggestions he said: "I certainly won't be moving to Lincolnshire.
"And I don't think I'll be buying ostrich eggs.
"But we might try a different type of organic egg to see if they're any better."
Do you have a top tip for boiled eggs? Contact the Courier at www.thisiskent.co.uk/tonbridge or email reporters.tonbridge@courier.co.uk.
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