Method for hardboiling eggs?

[Sparkly]

Somebody posted a great method for hardboiling eggs awhile back. What was it, again?

(I DO remember the part about not forgetting them and letting the water boil away and toasting the eggs in Stinky's copper pan.)

[DrDan]

1. I put my eggs in cold water and start the heat

bring to a boil and boil for a minute.

turn off the heat and let sit in water for 10 minutes.

[Mind_your_head]

2. Funny you should mention this - I want to know too

Especially, how can you hardboil the eggs and not get that grey color between the yolk and the white (what causes that anyway?) Sometimes when I boil my eggs it doesn't have the grey, but 90% of the time it's there :-(

[silverweb]

3. Eggs. Pot. Cold water.

Bring to boil. Simmer for a few minutes. Turn off heat. Let sit until cool enough to handle eggs.

I don't get all the concern about the grey edge to the yolk. Who cares? It tastes the same and it doesn't mean the eggs are bad in any way.

Besides, once you eat the eggs, you can't see it anymore.

Am I the only one who doesn't give a shit? :shrug:

[Mind_your_head]

7. You're right! For many purposes it doesn't matter if the yolk has the gray edge

Say, egg salad or deviled eggs - No one will ever know or care that there was ever a gray edge to the yolk.

But SOMETIMES when you're trying to give a nice presentation for other people to enjoy and you're using the egg slices or whole hard boiled egg it makes a difference. Here's one little example of when a gray edge on the yolk just wouldn't give the right presentation (sorry I couldn't get the actual pic to post, you'll have to click on the link to view pic):

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This just wouldn't look right with gray on the yolk, imo (it actually looks like they might have scraped it off in this pic).

I did some googling, and it seems like the gray yolks are from overcooking? :shrug: There were some other ideas put forth out there, but the overcooking one seems to be what the majority of sites say.

P.S. Thanks to mtnester for the link to the Bento site on another thread where I got this pic - I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the wonderful/creative things people did with bento boxes :-).

[silverweb]

11. You're right.

A gray-edged yolk just wouldn't look right in that presentation or others such as you describe.

Living alone, that's the sort of thing it's easy to forget. :)

[NashVegas]

4. This Shows Up in This Month's Bon Appetit

Place eggs in single layer in large saucepan. Pour enough water over eggs to cover by 1 1/2 inches. Add 2 tablespoons coarse salt and bring to boil over high heat. Remove from heat; cover saucepan tightly and let stand 8 minutes. Drain. Return eggs to pan; cover with lid and shake pan to crack egg shells. Place eggs in large bowl of ice water and cool 5 minutes. Peel eggs and set aside.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/241632

[sandnsea]

5. That's the way I do it

Works great. The salt keeps the eggs buoyant so they don't crack as often, and if they do the salt heals the crack to the white doesn't seep out. The cold water helps keep the green away.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Here's my method:

Put eggs in pan and cover with cold water. Bring to a full boil, remove from heat and cover pan. Let sit for 10 minutes for hardboiled eggs and 5-7 minutes for soft boiled eggs (depending on degree of doneness desired). Immediately drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. The whites will be cooked through, but not rubbery and no gray or green circle will form around the yolk.

Edited for spelling.

[Bjornsdotter]

9. Same as mine

...plus I make open faced sandwiches quite often and a green circle around the yolk is a big no-no.

With this method I never have a green circle around the yolk.

Cheers

[MagickMuffin]

8. I posted a thread a while back

I boil them in cold water, boil for 3 minutes, then let them sit for 10 minutes in the hot water, then drain and I add new cold water along with ice, although the ice isn't necessary.

This has worked for me without fail.

[Tab]

10. I think it was me

Anyway, start in unheated water - doesn't need to be cold, but needs to be room temp or lower. Point is, not boiling.

Bring to a boil and then shut it off. Let it sit until cool.

This has two benefits:

- Eggs are much less likely to crack/leak, if indeed they crack at all.

- The nitrogren is redistributed much more evenly avoiding the green/gray cover. Some have said that it doesn't matter - it tastes the same - but in a restaurant environment you want to make the best presentation possible. Doing it this want gives you a properly colored cover, not the green/grey crap.

- Tab

[shireen]

12. what an amazing coincidence ... I've also been wanting to post my boiled eggs problem!

One of the annoying things I've found, for hard- and soft-boiled eggs, is that sometimes, they are hard to peel. The egg white sticks to the shell, so chunks of it get pulled out when I peel back the shell. It's got to the point that I'm positively ecstatic when the shell comes off cleanly! LOL! I get my eggs from Whole Foods, usually the ones with Omega-3.

As an aside, one of the guys at work has a small farm, and from summer to fall, he sells us farm-fresh eggs from "the girls" -- super-cheap $1/dozen. (It's more of a hobby farm, I think, he has chickens and a few llamas, used to have goats.) Those chickens are soooo cute! A few of them lay eggs with pale bluish-green shells, which are so pretty. You never know what you're going to get in the carton ... white, brown, blue, and so many different sizes. It's so much fun! If I am ever able to afford a property, highly unlikely with the insane real estate pricing in Maryland, I'd love to have a little chicken coop with a few girls of my own.

[sandnsea]

13. fresh eggs can be harder to peel

Boiling in salt water can help a bit too. Are you getting under the skin? Other than making sure you get under the thin film of skin, or putting aside eggs to boil for a week or so, I don't have any tips.

[MagickMuffin]

14. Here's a tip I hope it works for you

If you use my method in post #8, then after the cold ice water cooling down period, if you break the shell at the large/big end you would probably have better luck with the whites not sticking to the shells.

Also the fresher the eggs the harder it is to remove the shell.

An easy way to remove the shell is to crack the entire shell and then pierce the membrane on the inside. The shell can then be removed, as the membrane holds the shell together.

I hope this makes sense.

[shireen]

15. thanks Sandnsea and MagickMuffin....

one more follow-up, how long can eggs keep in the refrigerator?

again, thanks so much! :hi:

[MagickMuffin]

16. I'm not an eggspert, so I'm not sure about the correct answer to your question, but

I've had eggs for several weeks and still use them. As long as they are kept cool, I will still use them in baking.

I got some info from wiki. Maybe you could do a search on that. If you find anything then please post it. It would be interesting to know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_eggs