'Not So' Hard-Boiled Eggs

I recently made a dozen hard-boiled eggs, or so I thought. Despite timing the eggs exactly (I've done this so many times), and checking online on several sites to be sure the timing notations were correct, to my dismay when I went to peel them the next day, the yolks of the eggs were not quite cooked all the way through, and the whites were slightly runny. That resulted in one dozen eggs we could not use.

But I still needed the hard-boiled eggs. So, I had to do them over. Luckily, I had a spare dozen in the fridge. This time, I cooked them once again according to directions, adding another minute since they were the same size eggs as the first batch, but this time, I decided I would sacrifice one egg at the end of the cooking time--just to be sure the egg was cooked all the way through.

When the timer went off, I removed one egg from the boiling water, immersed it in cold water for a minute, and then peeled it. It was perfect! Then I immersed the other eggs and ended up with a good batch of hard-boiled eggs. I'll use this 'sacrifice one egg' system from now on so there's never a problem again in the future. You live and you learn.

Comments

[Michelle]

William and Sonoma have an acrylic "egg" that goes in the water with your eggs and it has markings on it showing soft - medium - hard. I use it all the time and it works great

[Jan]

Good grief, I boiled eggs (my egg cooker quit) and they turned green (little did I know that they were fine, just unpalatable looking). I threw them out. Now I purchase already hard-cooked (who knew). Blessings, Janet

[christine]

Prepare eggs in cold water and bring to boiling. Boil one minute and turn off the heat and leave on burner for twenty minutes. They are perfect every time.

[Marilyn Holeman]

Hmm. When I hard boil eggs, I bring them to a boil in a covered pot, then turn off the heat, and let them sit in the water WITH the cover on the pot, for 20 minutes. I've never had a problem with them being underdone.

Thanks for all your great tips!

[Sinea]

I am the same way...it would never have occurred to me to open a test-egg first. Great idea!

[Kate Ike]

My mother taught me that I could check for the "doneness" of a hard-boiled egg by lifting it out of the boiling water with a tablespoon. If the moisture evaporates immediately, the egg is done. I have never had this fail.