Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

June 15, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Eggs at 1:17 pm | (1) Comment »

perfect-hbeggs

I’m a little embarrassed that it’s taken me this long to perfect the hard boiled egg. There’s the expression “she can’t even boil an egg”- but I promise you that before today, I have been able to boil an egg- just not a perfect one.

Before today, I tried everything. I added vinegar to the water to prevent the whites from oozing out of the cracks in the shells (and I always, always seemed to have cracked shells!) I added salt to the water to make it easier to peel them. I tried keeping the water on a low simmer before lowering the eggs in. And it was always a hit and miss- some eggs were better than others, some almost perfect… but I never had a day when all the eggs were perfectly hard-boiled, and easy to peel. Until today.

So here’s what I did: I placed the eggs in an unheated saucepan, covered them with cold water, put the saucepan on the stove and turned the heat on to medium-high. Then I waited.

As soon as it started boiling (and I’m talking a good, rolling boil here), I switched the heat off, set my kitchen timer to ten minutes, and went to check Facebook.

After ten minutes, I drained the eggs from the water, and dumped about two cups of ice on them. This gave them a good shock. After they were all nice and shocked and quite cool, I peeled them. When you peel them this way, they are perfect. The peel, membrane and all, comes right off- and you are left with perfectly boiled, shiny egg, with a very moist, creamy yolk within. You’re welcome.

Thank God for Eggs

February 17, 2009 | Posted by Lorraine as Eggs, Recipe at 10:20 am | (1) Comment »

Eggs, Glorious Eggs

My husband and I run two businesses from home, which means that we’re crazy busy almost all of the time. So busy, that sometimes we forget to stock the fridge, and suddenly it’s dinnertime, and we have almost nothing to cook.

I say almost nothing because there’s something we always have around here (necessary, when you run a baking business): eggs. Ah, eggs- they’ve been called nature’s most perfect food, and I know why. I mean, can you say versatile? Hard-boil them, slice them, season and mix in some mayonnaise, and you’ve got an awesome egg salad (or, as my French aunt likes to say, oeufs a la mayonnaise). Soft-boil them, slice off their tops, and serve with fleur de sel, and you’ve got a gourmet breakfast right there.

But tonight, I’m going even lazier, perhaps because I’ve got deadlines looming, an early-morning conference call, and not enough coffee in the house, and making some very simple, very awesome, scrambled eggs.

Now there’s a secret to making perfect scrambled eggs: be gentle with them. Stir them gently around the pan, don’t give them too much heat, and most importantly: never ever leave them alone.

Awesome Scrambled Eggs

For perfect Scrambled Eggs, all you need are:

4 Eggs, lightly whisked
4 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (use salted if it’s all you’ve got. I’m a bit of a control freak about salt, is all)
Salt & Pepper

Melt the butter over low-medium heat (you do not want it to brown). Add whisked eggs, and start mixing it around the pan, slowly, gently. Once it looks a little set- still creamy and moist- take it off the heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Served on toasted bread, this is a delicious meal for two that takes all of five minutes to make.

How do you like your eggs?