Eggs, Boiled

Preparation

1. Cracked before cooking

   Step 1

   Wrap the egg very tightly in aluminum foil, twisting the ends. Then boil it normally. After boiling the egg, plunge it quickly into cold water. If you don’t, it will continue to cook in the foil.

2. Cracked during cooking

   Step 2

   Pour in 1 teaspoon salt. It should keep the whites from seeping out. A few drops of lemon juice or vinegar in the egg water will have the same effect.

3. Crumbly, difficult to slice

   Step 3

   If you don’t have an egg-slicing gadget, the easiest way to slice hard-boiled eggs is either to use a cheese slicer or to garrote the eggs with thread. Or you can use a hot dry knife.

4. Difficult to peel

   Step 4

   Tap all over the shell of the warm cooked egg with a spoon, and/or roll the egg around in cold water. Peel it under gently running water. If you have a pot full of hard-boiled eggs, just pour most of the water off and shake the pot to crack the eggs against each other. Add cold water to cool the eggs and then peel them.

5. Discolored

   Step 5

   Dark circles around the yolks of freshly hard-boiled eggs can be prevented by cooking the eggs properly. Cover eggs with cool water to a height of 1 inch above the tops of the eggs and bring them rapidly to a boil. Take the pan off the heat, cover, and let stand for 20 minutes. Cool immediately in cold water.

   Step 6

   If the eggs already have dark yolks, hold each yolk under a gentle stream of cold water and lightly rub it with your finger.

6. Off-center yolks

   Step 7

   You can’t change them now, but next time roll each raw egg a couple of feet horizontally (always in the same direction) before you put it in the hot water.

7. Too many

   Step 8

   Peeled hard-boiled eggs can be stored in the refrigerator, covered by water, for 2 or 3 days. Frankly, “too many” is a great excuse for egg salad or deviled eggs (see more hints below under eggs, deviled).

8. Undercooked

   Step 9

   If you have opened a soft- or medium-boiled egg in the “proper” fashion, by cutting off just a bit of the narrow end, you can cook it more by lowering it back into boiling water, suspended in cloth or cheesecloth. Don’t let the water enter the egg. Alternatively, enclose your egg in a piece of foil that’s big enough so you can gather the edges on top, over the opened end. Support it, vertically, in your pot between something a few minutes of boiling water won’t injure (coffee mugs? rocks?). If this method won’t work, convert your boiled egg to a scrambled or, possibly, fried egg.