For some reason, both my kids LOVE boiled eggs.
Unfortunately, until a few years ago, my egg boiling skills were right in line with my sewing and skateboarding skills – non-existent. Besides the fact that they often had a gooey center, I – more often than not – ended up with the saddest, most pitiful deviled eggs I’ve ever seen. Then, one day, while (yet again) making egg salad after abandoning the impossible task of trying to get a lumpy, paper thin, shredded, boiled egg white half to hold deviled egg filling, I decided to Google the perfect boiled egg. (What did I do before Google?)
Here’s how I get “practically perfect” boiled eggs, every time. (“Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every way.”)
1. Put the eggs on the bottom of a pan, in one layer.
2. Add enough water to completely cover the eggs, maybe about an inch over.
3. Add baking soda to the water (makes peeling easier)
4. Put the pan on a burner and turn it to medium-high heat.
5. Let the water come to a boil.
6. Put the lid on the pan when the water is boiling and move the pan onto a cold burner (oh, and you should probably turn off the hot burner).
(Now here’s where I mess up all the time.)
7. Set the timer for 15 minutes for Large-sized eggs (or for 12 minutes for Medium-sized eggs or for 18 minutes for Extra Large-sized eggs).
8. Put the pan in the sink when the timer goes off (or in my case, when I remember I have a pan of eggs on the stove).
9. Run cold water into the pan until the eggs are cool (I just run water until the water is cool).
And THIS is why I’m not embarrassed to serve deviled eggs to people outside my immediate family anymore:
10. I CHILL the eggs before I peel them. I put them in the fridge for 15 minutes. (Okay, so I put them in the fridge until I remember I have boiled eggs chilling in the fridge.)
11. Gently tap a cooled egg on a flat surface and then roll it until the larger cracks turn into tiny cracks all over the egg.
12. NOW peel the egg and rinse any tiny pieces of egg shell under running water.
Note: I only feed my disposal egg shells and potato skins when FirstHusband is in the mood to crawl under the sink and unclog it (that would be never).
Check out the great tips and recipes at Kitchen Tip Tuesdays hosted by Tammy at Tammy’s Recipes! I think I’m going to try the strawberry lemonade (#7 from Stephanie) for July 4th!