How To Boil An Egg – How To Hard Boil An Egg

Sep 27, 2010 by Kevin Anderson

Eggs Are One Of The Most Versatile Foods Found In Nature

Eggs are one of the most versatile foods found in nature and when using them you can create thousands of varieties of food. Eggs can be found in everything from appetizers to entrees to desserts. Eggs are typically consumed even more than the hens that produce them these days. Eggs have a significant nutritional value due to the type of fats, mineral salts and cholesterol levels that they possess. There are several methods to cooking eggs, and within this article I will go over the specifics of how to hard boil eggs and how long to boil an egg.

How Do You Boil An Egg

There are actually a few methods for boiling eggs, depending on how you want your egg once it’s boiled. You can have it hard boiled, soft boiled, etc. In this article I will discuss how to hard boil and egg. How to make a perfect hard boiled egg is a widely discussed topic believe it or not. There are even methods which involve poking a tiny hole in the smaller end of the egg, to allow the air to be released. I won’t go over this method, however, as I’ve not used it and don’t know whether or not hard boiling an egg that way will work. You can also microwave hard boiled eggs, but again, I haven’t used that method either.

How To Boil An Egg

There is some difference of opinions on this one. Some people prefer to place the eggs within the pan once the water is warm, or even boiling, however, I’ve found best results using the method below. I’ve broken it down into a few easy steps for you to follow so you can see how to make hard boiled eggs the easiest way I know how.

Step 1: Place your raw eggs into a medium saucepan and run cold water over them until the water is between 1 to 1 ½ inches above the tallest egg.

Step 2: Some people prefer to use salt as it will help the eggs during the peeling process, however, salt changes the boiling point of the water and can cause you to overcook the eggs if you’re not careful. Also, according to a science class I once took, salt dries things out and the dryer an egg, the harder it is to peel. Instead we will skip the salt and just remember to run your eggs under extremely cold water (ice water if possible) as soon as you remove them from the heat. Now that you understand the how to peel them and have decided against using salt, you need to heat your stove on high until the water begins to boil.

Step 3: Once your water has started boiling, you need to reduce the heat to a simmer and start your timer. For soft boiled eggs, most people like 2-3 minutes (I never eat soft boiled eggs, so I can’t say either way) and for hard boiled eggs, I like to keep them simmering for approximately 12-13 minutes.

Step 4: Remove your eggs carefully with a strainer or a straining spoon and immediately place the eggs in a bowl of cold water (ice cold is best) to help invoke better peeling of the shell. You should only need to run them through the ice cold water for a few minutes to cool down the egg to the point where it’ll be cool enough to eat. Obviously this is dependent upon how many eggs you are trying to cool in the ice water.

How To Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

The best method that I know, is the method that I learned while working in a kitchen back in high school. The restaurant that I worked at made gallons and gallons of potato salad every day, and in the potato salad were a lot of boiled eggs. I would have to peel about 12 dozen eggs every single day, so I know this method is pretty efficient.

Step 1: Place the egg on a firm flat surface.

Step 2: Place the palm of your hand firmly on the egg and roll the egg forward on the surface, while slowly applying a slightly more amount of pressure atop the egg. You should here the egg cracking.

Step 3: Once you’ve made a complete rotation of the egg, pull your hand away and you should see that the shell is pretty much falling off already. Simply pull the large chunks of shell away and enjoy!