And cast iron is too heavy for me. I'm a wimp on some days.

I've tried the final steam method. Maybe I did something wrong.

I'm not sure what you mean by savagery.

What do you fry eggs in?

What is your cookware? I assume some will maintain heat more than others such as cast iron.

What is your induction burner or cooktop?

Note: while I'm happy to get it right on the induction burner I'm still getting the gas burner. You can't do wok, even with the wok-shaped bases. Or at least, I can't do wok that way. I want to be able to flame the sides and keep them hot while I'm lifted.

Eggs are eggs. Once every 20 years I crack a bad one. Other than that, they're just eggs.

Actually, the concept of not fresh blows me away. It's not like we have them sitting in markets not turning over. They all have sell by dates. This concept confuses me.

I live far enough out into the sticks that people live around me raise chickens and sell the eggs out of stands in front of their house. That skeeves me out.

Yes, I know eggs are supposed to be physically sealed by their own internal structure and they don't need to be cleaned and if they are it actually damages it.

That in turn limits their shelf life and makes them need to be refrigerated. I don't mind. Give me a clean cold egg with a date on the box and I'm happy.

As far as butter or not, I guess that's a taste issue. I know that when you cross 350 it starts to burn. That limits its high temp usefulness but eggs get that perfect light brown crisp edge at just the right high butter non-burning level.

I've seen enough Michelin rated chefs to tell me to use the basted butter method. Something tells me that final finish with steam is a diner style "How fast can we get it to the customer while cooking 10 other things at the same time" method.

Again, I guess it's a taste/ texture preference.

And go try some eggs from a stand to see if I want to keep getting those. Thank you.

Also, thank you for the hard boiled tip. I'm about to make a batch of crack eggs and I'll scald those eggs before boiling them.

I don't understand the wait directions though. You said it depends on how long it takes to boil but you didn't say how long you should wait based on that. You just said it would be different.

And to all on freshness:

I discussed it with M and she said: yeah, remember when I got the eggs from the co-worker who raised the chickens..

Those were the best eggs in the world. Regular eggs are runny and bland.

Um, okay, she wants to raise chickens. No thanks.