I learned to perfect boiled eggs when I started decorating eggs for my people at my gym. I mean, unless you are decorating or making deviled egg, who would usually make a dozen hard-boiled egg at a time?
If you do hard boiled eggs wrongly, you end up peeling bits off the white leaving nicks and tears in the egg. It’s frustrating. My young friend Sarah and I went through this annoying simple chore while decorating eggs. The shell got stuck to the white, we blamed it on not having nails (sounds unhygienic), we tried them under gallons of running water, and we ate a lot of ugly eggs so we didn’t have to serve them.
Something as easy as this shouldn’t be that complicated.
I’ve followed Julia Child’s way of doing this and it works. In The Way To Cook, she advocates putting eggs in water and bringing to boil. Then as soon as it boils, remove pan from heat, cover and leave for 17 minutes. Chill in ice water 2 minutes, and THEN, return eggs to boiling water for 10 seconds.
When I used only cool tap water and found it too much trouble to return egg to boil a second time, it failed. Sure the eggs, when cut in half, is perfectly cooked, that is, we had perfect yellow yolks with no green or grey rings.
I consulted further informational literature, i.e. the internet, and there were all sorts of advice.
Here’s the rub…
Cooking egg
To cook it perfectly, Julia’s way IS correct. Put eggs (from fridge is okay, they will not break) in pan and cover with tepid water about one inch over eggs, and bring to boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and cover and leave for 17 minutes. This is the most economical method.
Alternatively, this also works. When water is boiling, cover and simmer for 7 minutes. This is quicker.
Meanwhile prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. I use about 2 cups of ice and enough water to submerge eggs. Transfer hot eggs to ice bath and leave until egg is no longer hot to the touch, about 5-10 minutes. It’s fine if you leave them in longer.
That works perfectly for me. I’ve tried putting the eggs in cool water, no ice. Failed. The ice is the trick.
Peeling egg
Rolling the egg until shell is evenly cracked makes it easier to peel. When parts of it gets stuck, rinse it under the faucet and look for another part where you can peel off the skin because once you get under there, it strips the shell off the egg, and you get a whoosh of a sense of accomplishment!
When peeling a dozen eggs, you can crack them by shaking the drained, cooled eggs in the pan.
TIPS
Novel ways to eat eggs
–Dip in vinegar and salt. A Filipino friend taught me this. Surprisingly good. Use distilled or rice vinegar, or any you have available. Must add salt.
–With soy sauce, chili sauce.
Storing
I boil eight eggs at a time, two to eat right after and the rest to keep for later use. To store in my fridge, I drain or wipe them dry and put them in my reusable cornstarch container which has a tight lid to keep egg from absorbing any other smells. The cubic container is better than an oblong plastic container because it takes up less real estate in my refrigerator!
Reheating chilled egg
To reheat the egg, I boil up some water, put my egg in a METAL measuring cup and and pour hot water into cup. It takes less than 2 minutes and the egg is warm. Don’t use a glass cup…mine cracked.
