Boiling an egg. It's simple. You can't really mess it up, right? Wrong. We know that internet articles are quick to tell you that you've been doing simple things wrong your entire life. But honestly, you've been doing it wrong your entire life.
For some reason, it's hard for boiled eggs to come out right. You'll either leave them in for too little and end up with runny yolks. Or you'll overcompensate and leave it in for too long and end up with something that resembles rubber more than it does an egg.
What if we said that there's a super simple way to make sure your hard-boiled eggs always come out right? Would you believe us? And how much would you pay for that recipe? A million dollars? Today's your lucky day, because we'll break it down for you for the cost of free.
First, place your egg in a large saucepan. Cover the eggs by one inch of cool water. So far so good.
Next, you're going to want to bring that water to a boil. Do so over medium heat. Don't watch it, because as we all know, a watched pot never boils and that would take you forever.
Once you've got that water boiling, the tricky part is going to come in. Turn the stove off. Yup. You heard us. When you're boiling an egg, you're going to want to turn off the boiling water.
Next, cover up the pot as if it's your sister wearing a bikini. Remove the pot from the heat. Are you tracking so far?
You're going to want to break out the ol' stopwatch for this next part. Or oven timer. Or timer on your phone. It doesn't matter. It only matters that you sit and wait for 12 minutes. No more, no less. It will turn into a Gremlin if it's in there for more than 12 minutes.
Has it been 12 minutes yet? Good. Take the egg out of the pot. Hurry! You don't want to over boil that sucker! That's what you've been doing wrong literally your whole life!
Run the egg under cold running water. This will stop the egg from cooking. It will also make it easier to peel. So it's like a cool two-in-one kind of thing!
The last step is to eat it. This step is optional. Maybe there are other things you want to do with your perfectly hard boiled egg that don't involve eating it? We're not going to judge. You do you.
Want to really make sure that your eggs are easy to peel? Stick 'em in the fridge for 10 days before you boil them. Fresh eggs are a little bit harder to separate from their shells. That 10 days of breathing room will allow the eggs to think about what they've done, and also give them time to get some air, which helps separate the membrane from the shell.
The thing that's great about this technique (aside from the fact that it makes your eggs cook perfectly) is that it doesn't leave a greenish ring around the yolk of your eggs. You know, that gross discoloration that makes it look like the Hulk got his hands all over your food. It's a reaction between the sulfer in the egg white and the iron in the yolk. It's harmless, but it's still gross.
Eggs have six grams of protein per egg. They also contain all nine essential amino acids. So if you start your day off with an egg, you're starting it off right.
Now that you know how to make the perfect hard boiled egg, what are you waiting for? Grab a pot and start boiling! Just remember to stop the boiling when... You know. You read the article.