Sunday, January 19, 2014

How to make the perfect boiled egg


“I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but youre twenty minutes.” OSCAR WILDE

Before you scoff at me for writing this post - a properly boiled egg with a little sprinkle of salt and pepper is one of the simple joys of life and equally easy to mess up. Had with toast, or just by itself as a mid-day snack, or in your kids lunch box, its wholesome, easy and hardly takes any special effort. 

My earlier method of boiling an egg was to place it in a pan full of water and boil the hell out of it for 10 odd minutes, drain and peel. While this works well, the egg sometimes turns rubbery and the unpleasant grey sulphur ring inside that makes it so unpalatable.

The full credit for my current technique goes to Mark Bittman and his book How To Cook Everything Vegetarian.



So here are my tips on getting the perfect boiled egg

  1. Buy the best quality eggs you can get.
  2. It helps if the eggs are not utterly fresh. A few day old eggs are so much easier to peel off than fresh eggs.
  3. Place the eggs in a deep pan. Cover them with tap water.
  4. Place this on the stove. 
  5. Bring the water to boil.
  6. They say swishing the water in the pan in circles helps center the yolks, in case you plan on making deviled eggs.
  7. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, turn off the flame. Cover with a fitting lid and let it sit for 10 minutes.
  8. After 10 minutes, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and place in a bowl of chilled water for 10 minutes. This prevents the grey sulphur ring.
  9. Crack the egg at several places on counter top or with a spoon and peel off the shell or place in refrigerator until you need to use them.


5 things you can do with boiled eggs

  1. Quarter them and add them to salads. Egg and potato salad is a delicious combination, but you dont have to restrict yourself to this alone.
  2. Make egg curry
  3. Saute sliced ginger, garlic, onions until the onions caramelise and add quartered boiled eggs to this, with seasonings to make Burmese style egg appetiser.
  4. Dip boiled egg in batter and deep fry to make delicious egg bhajji.
  5. Slice the boiled egg. Slice a tomato. Make egg & tomato sandwich.


What are your favourite things to do with boiled eggs?


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