HB Eggs Techniques

[Porthos]

Before I get to my question let my say that I have my own tried and true method for making hard-boiled eggs and it works whether I'm doing 4 eggs or a flat at a time (in the spring I boil 10 dozen eggs at a time for egg salad). Eggs are lowered into lightly-boiling water, turn up the heat until the boil returns, start timing and reduce heat to maintain reasonable boil, after 11 minutes remove eggs from water and submerge in room-temperature water to stop the cooking process.

However, the start-and-then-walk-away technique has a great deal of appeal:

I tried the following technique, as shown in the current Fine Cooking magazine, which technique I had heard of before but never tried. I put 6 eggs in cold water and brought the water to an active simmer (plenty of bubbles but not furious) then turned off the heat and left them for 40 minutes. When I opened an egg it was only coddled, not hard boiled.

2 Questions:

My eggs came out of the refrigerator; is there an expectation of room temperature eggs?

I use extra-large eggs (I get my eggs from Costco) so do I need to change how long the heat is appled before turning it off.

Thanks for any insights you can give me. I just bought my first copies of Cook's Illustrated and Fine Cooking and was dissappointed in my first attempt to use info from FC.

Porthos Potwatcher

The Unrelenting Carnivore

[Marlene]

I boil eggs the way DebbieMoose suggests in her deviled egg cook book. Sort of similar to the method you tried with the exception that you bring the water to a full boil with the eggs in, and as soon as it comes to a boil, put the lid on, and remove from heat, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then immediately put them in cold water for a t least 5 minutes. I just put the eggs in a strainer and run cold water on them It works for me every single time.

Edited to add, I always use extra large eggs and often they're right out of the fridge cause I never remember to bring them to room temp first.

Edited January 17, 2007 by Marlene (log)

[russ parsons]

that's pretty much the way i do them, too, and i've never had a problem. in fact, i love that you never get that copper ring around the outside of the yolk and the center of the yolk is always deep orange, not yellow.

[Anna N]

Similarly here. Cold water, bring just to a boil, cover, remove from heat. 12 minutes later stop the cooking with cold water. Works for me!

[Porthos]

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like I need to try it again.

Porthos Potwatcher

The Unrelenting Carnivore

[jgm]

Marlene's method works well for me, but I've noticed that it does only when I use my heavy saucepan. My husband somehow acquired some rather thin pans -- I think they were free with our refrigerator (!) and insists on keeping them around. If I use them for hard-boiled eggs, I need to keep at least low heat under the pan for the entire duration, or the eggs don't get cooked through.

[jackal10]

Eggs have a range of proteins that coagulate at different temperatures.

Egg white sets around 145F/65C, but doesn't get really hard until aboue 180F/80C

Yolk thickens at around 150F and sets at 158F/70C, so for tender whites and set yolks you need to heat the egg until its at that temperature thoughout.

See http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/c20/johnson1981.html

and http://newton.ex.ac.uk/teaching/CDHW/egg/

The normal boiling of an egg relies on the slow transfer of heat to set the white but not the yolk.

For your purposes heat your eggs to 160F/72C either by putting in a water bath T that temperature for 15 mins, or in an oven at that temperature for an hour or so - the time is not critical, so long as the eggs are heaed through. Perfect every time.

[russ parsons]

that's true, but using a heat-curve is a lot easier: the water cools at just the right rate that the yolk doesn't overcook. and, of course, it's really important to start the eggs in cold water, not hot, so the air inside the shell expands slowly enough to bleed out through the pores, rather than just popping out a chunk of shell.

[Lori in PA]

My way -- always works for me:

Cold eggs in saucepan; add cold water to come one index finger joint above an egg. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and set timer for 13 minutes (large eggs), 11 minutes (medium eggs), or 15 minutes (jumbo eggs). Rinse in cold water.

[mjohnson]

Consider your altitude!

I lectured my new wife at length (note - I learned that this isn't really a good idea) that the wise folks at eGullet/CooksIllustrated/whatever say she shouldn't cook them the way that she did.

New wife replied "OK Wise Guy, go cook some eggs".

I applied all of my Internet/magazine/tribal lore obtained knowledge and whipped up 1 dozen (barely) soft boiled eggs for egg salad.

We live at 7500 feet and boil our eggs for a _long_ time now.

Mike in Los Alamos, NM

[Special K]

I put the eggs (straight from the refrigerator) in cold water (salted to keep the eggs from exploding in the water if a crack develops), bring to a boil, take off the heat, (I have @#$&* cast iron burners, so they stay hot forever) lid, and then just leave them alone until they're cooled a bit, cool enough to handle. Then I pour the water out, put the lid on the pot and shake like crazy to break the shells. Under cold running water, they peel easily.

[KarenSherwood]

I'm a cheater! One of my favorite kitchen appliances is my venerable Salton Egg Cooker. It does 8 HB eggs at a time or 4 poached eggs. Either version comes out perfect every time, no big pots of water (with or without vinegar), little mess, and fast, lovely-shaped poached eggs.