From Scratch

The first cookbook I ever bought — that’s it on the left – was chosen for one simple reason: it explained how to boil an egg.

I was a sophomore in college, hooked on chef’s salads, and decided to try making them myself. The catch was that I did not know how to make a hard boiled egg. Honest. But I was too embarrassed to admit this to my mother. Or anyone else. So off I went to a bookstore and searched through several unhelpful cookbooks before I found Fannie Farmer, which deigned to explain this basic technique. I was in business, so to speak.

Now, of course, I know the best method is not to boil the eggs for more than 30 seconds, to use older eggs and skip the simmering altogether. The result is a perfectly-cooked egg that’s not the least bit rubbery with a still-moist yolk.

Food scientist and chemist Shirley Corriher, my favorite Sherlock Holmes of all things edible, gives us this simple and near-foolproof method:

• Start with eggs that are seven to ten days old because they’re easier to peel. Bring them to room temp by submerging them in warm water for about five minutes to help prevent cracking. Place them in a pan with enough cold tap water to cover them by 1 1/2 inches, add a bit of salt to raise the water temperature and to help close any cracks (important at Easter), partially cover the pan and bring to a full, rolling boil.
• Boil the eggs for only 30 seconds — timing’s important for both steps here – then remove the pan from the heat, cover it completely, and let stand for 15 minutes. Run the eggs under cold water for about five minutes to cool them quickly and shake them in the pan, if they’re going to be peeled, letting them bang against each other to make peeling even easier.

I thought of all this because I’m trying to concoct a recipe or two for deviled eggs that don’t use mayonnaise, which I hate. Because of that, I’ve never made them but I do know I want to avoid those off-center yolks that produce hard cooked eggs with a thick wall of white on one side of the filling and a thin, flimsy one on the other. I remembered a tip, also Corriher’s, that putting the carton of eggs on its side would center the yolk, so I flipped the carton in the fridge overnight. And when I cooked an egg, this is what I got:

 

Perfect? No, not to the fraction of an inch, but perfection wasn’t the goal and probably isn’t possible. The yolk is attractively centered and, most important, the white is thick enough all around to provide a sturdy little container for whatever filling the egg might bear. It’s a result I can happily accept, especially when the only work on my part was to flip the carton.

Related posts: No mayo potato salad  No Mayo Curried Deviled Eggs  No Mayo Deviled Eggs with Crab

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Tags: eggs, food science