The Incredible Edible (Hard-Boiled) Egg

For some reason the whole "boil an egg" thing always evaded me. I never could remember how to go about cooking an egg that way. Without fail I'd call my parents and say, "One more time. How do you boil an egg?" I couldn't remember if you put the eggs in at the beginning or after it boiled. How long did you boil for? Covered or uncovered? How did you know it was done?

Well, a few weeks ago I got the brilliant idea to look up egg boiling in my trusty America's Test Kitchen Cookbook rather than once again calling the parents. They, of course, had a new way to boil an egg. I've tried it twice since then and both times they have come out perfect. (And I remembered how to do it without having to look up the directions!). I always seemed to get that green film around the yoke when I boiled eggs in the past. ATK promised that I would not with their method - and indeed I didn't.

How To Boil An Egg:

Place eggs in saucepan. Cover with water (water should be a couple inches above eggs). Add a dash or two of salt.

Bring to a boil uncovered over high heat. As soon as the rolling boil starts. Cover the pan and remove from heat.

Allow eggs to sit in covered pan for 10 minutes and then transfer immediately to an ice bath.

Let them sit in the ice bath for a couple of minutes. Then either peel them and eat or store in the fridge for up to a week.

And, just for fun - some more random egg facts about me:

• I've been eating organic eggs for so long now that I'm used to brown. I saw a white egg the other day and did a double take because it looked so funny to me. (Side note though - it's not the color of the egg that determines anything - the egg is the same color as the chicken's feathers. Typically though the free-range/grain-fed chickens are the brown ones and the ones that have to spend their poor lives locked in a cage are the white chickens).
• When I take eggs out of the carton I pull the bottom left egg out first, then the top right, then the top left, then the bottom right - and continue to work my way in towards the center of the carton. I have to keep the carton balanced. It really bothers me if there is an odd number of eggs in the carton and I've been known to find a use for the odd egg. When I lived with other people (family, roommates) who obviously did not understand the delicate balance an egg carton requires, I'd regularly re-arrange the eggs. I have gotten a little more ok with the odd egg thing in the past few years - but I still kind of breathe a little sigh of relief when I can take that odd egg out and the carton is balanced.