How to boil an egg (and devil it)

Tomorrow is Snark's birthday, so I was making some deviled eggs, and at long last, I've found the timing that did the trick for hard-boiled eggs. For some reason, the times most people suggest for the supposedly foolproof cold-start method seem to give me overcooked eggs. Very sad! Today's, though, were just right--no grey ring around the yolk, yolks cooked through absolutely but no more. It didn't hurt that they were farmer's market eggs. The yolks were a brilliant yellow as well as being cooked the perfect amount.

Here's what worked for me: Eggs, size large, right out of the fridge into the bottom of the pan, nestled in so that I couldn't have fit another in a single layer in the pan in question, but not really packed tight, and covered with cold water about 3/4" above the tops of the eggs. Pan partly covered, over a high flame. When I noticed the water had come to a boil (because I heard a little clunk of the eggs bumping), I turned the flame off immediately and covered the pan entirely. Then I set the timer for twelve minutes. When it went off, I used a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water, with plenty of ice.

If you want to be really particular, you can make an effort to center your yolks before you boil the eggs. I've read a few different suggestions for this: store the eggs tip-down, or tip the carton on its side, or give the eggs a spin before you cook them. Anyone have personal testimony about the effectiveness of any of these techniques? If you'd like my exceedingly simple deviled egg recipe, read on. (I expect everyone already has a perfectly good idea of how to make deviled eggs, but hey, why not?)

VERY BASIC DEVILED EGGS

Eight eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons of your favorite mustard
Splash of vinegar
Squirt of hot sauce
Paprika

Once you've cooked and peeled them, cut your eggs in half. Arrange the empty whites, open side up, on a platter. Pop out the yolks into a bowl and mash them thoroughly with a fork. Then mix in the other ingredients, aside from the paprika, and adjust to taste. Spoon the yolk mixture back into the hollows of the eggs and sprinkle paprika over all. For very best results, make at least a couple of hours before you intend to eat them, then cover (ideally, use a couple of toothpicks to hold plastic wrap away from the surface of the eggs) and refrigerate. The extra time helps the flavors to meld and also makes the filling settle in and grab onto the whites, for a more cohesive experience.

Comments

[redfox]

To elaborate, I think part of the trick here for me was to use not quite as much water as is usually recommended (I often see people calling for covering the eggs with at least an inch of water, where here I stopped a bit short of an inch) and partly covering the pan rather than letting it come to a boil even more slowly, completely uncovered. All that in combination with an on-the-short-side time in the covered pan seemed to do the trick--plus, of course, taking the cooked eggs OUT of their hot water and plunging them into ice water rather than ordinary cold water.

[redfox]

Blarg! The "more" isn't showing up for some reason. I'll investigate further (though you're not really missing much).

[Rich]

About the centered yolks, if you buy them at the supermarket you will notice that all eggs point down.

Thats the way the egg industry ships them to keep the yolk in the middle, until they figure out a way to let the hens lay the eggs hanging from their roost like bat's ;)

[Niall Harbison]

Hi There

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[Kyraninse]

So, about that devil-ed eggs recipe that was mentioned. *grin* I love your style of writing -- it'd be fantastic to hear from you again in the blogosphere.

[Wine Blog]

Never really been a huge fan of deviled eggs. They look funny and smell wierd too! Guess I need to visit your blog more often and try a few things eh!

[Watson Blair]

Hey there,
It's strange, i had only heard of spinning the egg after you had cooked it to determine that it was in fact done, it's a marvelous trick for getting them soft boiled perfectly, once the whites are cooked solidly enough they will actually hold the yoke in one place, allowing the egg to spin without the precooking wobbles/walking. This does require removing the eggs from the heat periodically, but I find that a perfect soft boil is worth the effort. Also, speaking of centering yokes and such, has anyone else seen the trick with standing eggs on their ends during the summer and winter solstice? It's crazy, the moons gravitational force is JUST strong enough to hold the eggs standing on the non-pointy end for about 3 to 4 hours at the peek of the solstice. crazy.

[Arvin]

Happy Birthday Snark! Many more Birthdays to come. So what's prepared for us?:)