Boiled eggs are cooked by immersing eggs (typically chicken's eggs) in boiling water with their shells unbroken. (Eggs cooked in water without their shells are known as poached eggs; see Poaching (cooking).) Hard-boiled eggs are produced by boiling until both the egg yolk and the egg white are solid, while for soft-boiled eggs the yolk, and sometimes even the white, remains "runny". Boiled eggs are commonly eaten in Africa, and Europe, North America and other parts of the Western world. They are generally considered easier to cook than many other ways of preparing eggs, while hard boiled eggs are easier to cook than soft boiled eggs.