Thursday, February 28, 2008

Howto: Boil Eggs

The CC is aware that the title sounds ridiculous. How hard can it be?

Well, it seems that most people don't seem to be able to boil eggs without geting rubbery whites, and that nasty green sulphurish ring around the yolk.

The French abhor such abominations naturellement.

Let it be noted that you can't really hard boil extremely fresh eggs. The shell would stick. In the land of the supermarket, this is not really a problem but the principle should be noted.

Now, you may read elsewhere about the relative merits of dunking eggs in already boiling water v/s bringing them to a boil starting with eggs in cold water.

It doesn't matter.

However, the latter has two advantages. The first is that that you avoid lowering the temperature if you need to boil, say 12 eggs. Hence, you gain control and French technique has always been about control. Secondly, your eggs won't crack when being lowered into the water.

Here's how to get fool-proof eggs every single time.

Cover the eggs with sufficient cold water. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer (this step is important!)

Consult the following table:

soft-boiled4-6 mins
mollet7 mins
hard-boiled8-9 mins

Dunk them in cold water right away. Peel. Enjoy.

For hard-boiled eggs, the CC prefers the lower end of 8 minutes where the yolk has set but is still crumbly.

(On a side note, this is the first of many "howtos".)

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