Back to the Basics with Hard Boiled Eggs

There is one thing that I am nervous about cooking…EVERY TIME!  I have only once had a bad experience with it, but Hard Boiling Eggs makes me anxious!

Why?  Because you never know how they will come out until you crack that shell.  It’s scary for me to not know what is going on inside that shell.  Will the egg be cooked all the way through?  Will it be runny?  Is it really done?

Maybe one reason is that nothing changes in the egg to tell you what is going on inside.  I mean, the egg shell remains the EXACT SAME COLOR and it still looks like an egg when it is done.  Nervous!

Except for one time when I didn’t let them boil long enough and the yolks were a little too undone (not runny, a bit solid, but definitely not cooked through…but they still tasted fine), I haven’t had too much of a mishap.

I’ve also learned from, talking to several people, that there doesn’t seem to be any one way to do this.  Every way seems to work well, you just have to find the way that works best for you and makes you the most comfortable.

Want to know how I do mine?

Okay, here goes:

First, place your eggs in a single layer at the bottom of a pot:

Yes, this pot is too big for these four eggs, but my more appropriately sized pot was being used and, well, I’m impatient like that.  You’ll find out in a minute why you shouldn’t have so much extra room in the pot…like my cliff hanger?

Okay, fill that pot with COLD water until it is just covering the eggs:

You don’t need more than that, just covering, but definitely completely covered.

Place the pot on the stove and turn onto medium heat.  You want to gently and slowly heat the water to boiling.  Boil for 5 minutes.  This is what happens if there is too much room in the pot for the eggs:

See, while boiling, the eggs bounced around a little too much and cracked enough that one of the eggs cracked open and part of the yolk slowly seeped out…in strings because it boiled and cooked as it came out.  It is still edible, so you don’t have to toss it, but is that really how you want your eggs to come out?  So, get the proper size pot, will ya?

Once they boil for 5 minutes, take them off the heat.  If you want to make it really easy to peel them, immediately dump them into a strainer and rinse with COLD water.  Keep the cold water coming until the eggs are cool to the touch.

This will help make the eggs easier to peel. 

That’s it!  It really is that easy!

Do you have a different strategy to hard boiling eggs?