Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Making A Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

I was making some egg salad this weekend and, as I boiled the eggs, then peeled them and prepared the PERFECT egg salad, (mayo, a little mustard, salt and pepper) I thought about how I had read an article on making the perfect hard-boiled egg years ago and shared it with my sister-in-law. She was amazed and immediately set about making her eggs this way. Or, at least, that's how I remember it. I'm sure she will set me straight with her eerily perfect memory if that is not correct.

I thought others might benefit from my years of perfect hard-boiled egg making, so here you go. Put some water in a pot, put in some eggs, heat up the water and cook them about 20 minutes. When I did some research, a few web sites say to bring the water to a boil, then add the eggs and cook for about 15 minutes. Which is just about the same as my technique - I guess the water takes about 5 minutes or so to boil.

Then, take the pot off the stove and drain the hot water out of it. Now, run some cold water over those eggs for a few minutes, just rolling them around in the pan and letting the water run over them. Drain out the cold water and bounce them around in the dry pan. Just keep bouncing until most of the eggs are cracked. Now, just peel them. Don't worry, they are not hot anymore. And the peels should come off in big pieces, very easily. If there are some that are not cracked, just roll them around on the counter with your hand until they are nice and cracked, then peel them.

Don't wait to peel them, don't stick them in the fridge for later. They will be much harder to peel. You need to peel them right away.

Let me know how this works for you!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great tip! I will try this next time!
Toni

Anonymous said...

I love the idea of bouncing the eggs around in the pan to crack them. That would save me a lot of time!

Unknown said...

Those darned hard boiled eggs! This is sort of how I do it. I usually peel them under running cold water.

Aubrey said...

I'm anxious to try this! I haven't been able to make the perfect hard-boiled egg yet. Thanks!!

Unknown said...

Why is it some eggs are easier to peel than others? I use basically the same technique as you, but ocassionally I'll get an egg that is a bear to peel.

Totallyscrappy said...

Just this morning I was thinking about an egg salad sandwich. Mmmm. Might have to see how many eggs I have in the frige.

Fancy said...

That is just how I remember it!!

We were at the pool and you had on that cute troical swim suit that you bought at McAlpins and I had on a black & white suit, that I bought at J.C. Penny's. Man I loved that suit.

I still make my hard boiled eggs and my egg salad just like you tought me, that sunny day while we were having lunch with the kids, on the grass, under those big trees, by the fence. That was a great day.

Danyele Easterhaus said...

super fun! and i have done similar things, but there are some new details here! thx!

i'll have to tell my dad, who called me one day when my mom was out of town and asked how long it took to boil an egg. he'd had them on the stove about 45 minutes and thought they should float...yikes!

Meg said...

That's exactly how I do my eggs! My mom taught me. It works so well. Nice to see I'm not the only one :)

Melissa B. said...

You're making me hungry--off to make some egg salad now!

Lynda said...

This DOES work - that's how I learned it, too! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

You definitely want to put the eggs in the water BEFORE heating it. The reason for this is that you want the eggs to come up to temperature gradually with the water, allowing the air in the eggs to escape slowly.

Putting cold eggs into boiling water causes the air to rush to escape, cracking the shell. The extreme temperature change also causes the shell to crack.

Another tip I've heard (but haven't successfully mastered) is that you can get the yolk more centered if you gently stir the eggs in the water while it's heating.

Anonymous said...

Great idea! I can't wait to try it; thank you for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Here's another great tip: if you add a few tea-spoons of salt to the water when you are boiling the eggs, in case they get cracked, the salt will prevent the inside from leaking out so they'll turn out perfect :)