Hard-Cooked Eggs 101

With Easter fast approaching, I thought I would write a post about how to hard- cook eggs. My kids were amazed I was going to write a post on this.  As my son said, "It isn't that hard to cook an egg. All you do is take an egg boil it till it is hard and eat it."  I  quickly explained you want the egg white to be tender and the yolk to be creamy in texture.   In the past, I have had hard-cooked eggs that were rubbery and chalky.  Not to mention, the green ring around the yolk.

I have read in cookbooks and cooking magazines on foolproof ways to hard-cook an egg.  The method I am going to write about is  a combination of two techniques.  My sources are  Cook's Illustrated Cook Book and Taste of Home magazine.

Hard-Cooked Eggs
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cook Book and Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
Water
Ice Cubes

Directions:
1. Remove eggs from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
2. In a medium saucepan place the eggs.  Add enough cold water and cover the eggs  by 1 inch.

3. Bring water to a boil over high heat.
4. Remove eggs from heat and cover the saucepan.  Let the eggs sit in the hot water as follows:
15 minutes for extra-large, 12 minutes for large, 9 minutes for medium.

5. Place cold water in a large bowl with ice.
6. Drain eggs once they are cooked and submerge in the ice water.

NOTE:   If you are going to use the eggs right away, after draining the water gently shake the pan to crack the eggshells all over.  Set aside to cool about 10 minutes.
7. Peel the eggs from the large rounded end.

Note: Unpeeled, hard-cooked eggs will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week.  Peeled eggs will last 3-4 days.  Store the peeled eggs covered in cool water.

Creamy Yolk Texture and Tender White

No Ring Around The Yolk

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