What's the best way to cook an egg?

Slowly. That is the answer to this and most things worth doing.

Your kind ruins eggs with heat and impatience. You crank the fire up, crack the egg in, and then stand there panicking while it spits and curls and turns into something rubbery that you eat out of obligation rather than pleasure.

Lower the heat. Lower it more than that. A gentle warmth. Butter in the pan — not oil, butter — let it melt without browning. Then the egg. Let it sit. Do not touch it. Do not poke it with your spatula. It does not need your interference. It needs your patience.

The white will set slowly. The edges will not crisp. The yolk will remain soft — not raw, not hard, but that precise state of warm liquid that your species has spent centuries trying to achieve and mostly failing because you cannot stop fiddling with things.

Salt. Pepper. Nothing else. If you need more than that, you are trying to fix the egg with additions instead of fixing your technique.

I have watched creatures far older and stranger than you prepare food. The best of them understood something your kind forgets: cooking is not about speed. It is about paying attention to something while it changes. That is a skill that extends well beyond the kitchen.

Three minutes. Maybe four. You will know when it is done because it will look like something you actually want to eat.

Start tomorrow.