Reliable hard-boiled eggs

[Saviolo]

We did a very simple recipe (more of a technique) this week. We've got a couple of summery recipes coming up that use hard boiled eggs, so we figured we'd show our method! Please ignore the part where the video gets a little jerky just as we're shocking the eggs. The video I took got corrupted somehow, and I had to repair it, which left it a little strange. But still, this technique is very reliable for good hard boiled eggs that aren't over-cooked and chalky!

[femmocrat]

1. Thanks.

I have been cooking them too long all these years!

[Goonch]

2. How to Quickly Peel a Boiled Egg

http://i.imgur.com/SrNcRk5.mp4

[matt819]

3. My variation

Put in pot. Do not cover. Bring to rolling boil. Once at rolling boil, keep boiling for 10 minutes. Then the same - cold water/peel. Hey, works for me.

[democratisphere]

4. Thanks for this

I have been cooking hb eggs way too long.

[Phoenix61]

5. Pretty much how I've been doing it

Only I don't put the lid on until I take them off the burner and I let them sit for 15 minutes.

[cloudbase]

6. Don't boil them.

Steam them for about 13-15 minutes, then put them in ice water for 10 minutes or so.
A clean peel every time, and no greenish spots on the yolk.

[wryter2000]

7. You beat me to it

I got this from Cook's Illustrated. They peel perfectly almost every time.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Good for soft-boiled eggs if you keep it to 6 1/2 minutes ...

https://www.savorysimple.net/perfect-soft-boiled-eggs/

(Found on several sites; basically reprints/reposts of Cooks Illustrated article.)

There's an interesting Japanese variation - steamed egg custard:
http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/article/how-to-steam-eggs

[SalviaBlue]

9. I use this technique too.

After years of boiling and getting mixed results, I now steam and ice bath. Perfect every time.

[Laurian]

10. Agree. Gotta avoid that green ring around the yolk that

produces the icky sulfur smell.

[Saviolo]

11. This is how Chef John at Food Wishes does them

But we've had uneven results with this. Maybe we did it wrong, but they came out a bit underdone a couple of times, and we went back to this method where we get consistent results.

[Major Nikon]

12. Harold McGee recommends either steaming them or cooking them at sub-boiling temperatures

The reason why the whites get rubbery and the yolks get chalky has more to do with temperature than time. If you have a sous vide setup or some other method to control water temperature at or below 185F, you can cook eggs for hours with no ill effects although it doesn't take that long to cook them throughout. You can also do hard boiled to soft boiled and anything in between. It has to do with the temperatures at which egg proteins coagulate. At temps above 185F, the proteins squeeze together so tightly it pushes out all the moisture and bad things happen to good eggs. The nice thing about controlling temps is you can upsize or downsize the volume of eggs with no worries about getting inconsistent results.