Cook Eggs, Don't Boil

(NewsUSA) – Chopped, sliced or wedged, hard-cooked eggs are
the basis of egg salad and add protein and a happy glow to tossed and composed salads and
casseroles. Chopped yolks and whites comprise Eggs Goldenrod and Polonaise Sauce. Whole hard-cooked
eggs become comforting, familiar deviled eggs or zingy, newly rediscovered pickled eggs. Simply
sprinkled with an herb or more fancily coated in sausage for Scotch eggs, hard-cooked eggs are
nature's own hand-held snack food. With a supply of hard-cooked eggs on hand, you're ready for
almost any meal occasion.

Hard-cooked eggs are often incorrectly called hard-boiled eggs. Yes, the cooking
water must come to a boil. But, you'll get more tender, less rubbery eggs without a green ring
around the yolk and you'll have less breakage if you turn off the heat or remove the pan from the
burner, allowing the eggs to cook gently in hot water.

Very fresh eggs may be difficult to peel. The fresher the eggs, the more the shell
membranes cling tenaciously to the shells. The simplest method for easy peeling is to buy and
refrigerate eggs a week to 10 days in advance of hard cooking. This brief "breather" allows the
eggs to take in air which helps separate the membranes from the shell. Follow the steps below to
produce picture-perfect hard-cooked eggs and visit www.aeb.org for
quick-and-easy hard-cooked egg recipes.

1. Place eggs in single layer in saucepan. Add enough tap water to come at least 1
inch above eggs.

2. Cover. Quickly bring just to boiling. Turn off heat.

3. If necessary, remove pan from burner to prevent further boiling. Let eggs stand, covered,
in the hot water about 15 minutes for Large eggs (12 minutes for Medium, 18 for Extra
Large.)

4. Immediately run cold water over eggs or place them in ice water (not standing
water) until completely cooled. Once cooled, refrigerate eggs in their shells and use within one
week of cooking or peel and use immediately.

5. To remove shell, crackle it by tapping gently until a fine network of lines
appears all over the shell.

6. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell.

7. Peel, starting at large end. Hold egg under running cold water or dip in bowl of
water to help ease off shell.

8. To segment eggs evenly, use an egg slicer or wedger. For chopped eggs, rotate a sliced egg
90 degree in a slicer and slice again. Or chop eggs with a sharp pastry blender in a bowl. Draw
down a wedger's wires only partway to open an egg to hold a stuffing or resemble a flower.