Italian scientists claim to have found the scientifically best way to make a hard-boiled egg. After trying it for ourselves, we can confirm that the egg was delicious.

Italian scientists say they found the best way to make boiled eggs. We tried it, and (sorry, science) it’s not worth it.

A new study reveals a technique called "periodic cooking" that balances yolk and white to perfection. The only catch? It’s a bit of a time commitment.

There’s no single method to boil an egg, but a team at the Italian National Research Council’s Institute for Polymers, Composites, and Biomaterials now believe there is a “perfect” way to cook them. In order to make it, however, you’ll need some patience and a watchful eye.

The perfect boiled egg has a velvety yolk paired with a soft, solid white. Achieving this balance can be a challenge because the yolk cooks at a lower temperature than the white. Hard boiling an egg can yield a chalky yolk, while cooking low and slow can produce jelly-like, undercooked whites.

Materials scientists have found a way to perfectly cook an egg white and egg yolk simultaneously Hard-boiling, soft-boiling or using a trendy sous vide—no matter the approach, cooking a whole egg preserves either the texture of the yolk or the white but rarely both.

The team used computer models of computational fluid dynamics, then tested out the painstaking—yet reportedly delicious—recipe for themselves