OK, I looked it up first and decided that the majority of people said to boil the water first and then put eggs in (mostly to avoid the shell cracking) and then cook for 15 minutes or so. This is according to answers to previous “boil an egg” questions.
My problem is that I did this and as soon as my eggs hit the boiling water they cracked. I was gonna only do one, but in light of it cracking, I put in another one assuming it was operator error and I did not do it “gently” enough. But my 2nd one also busted. Then when I put the lid on, I turned heat down and the water boiled over and made a mess.
What did I do wrong? It can’t be that hard? Is there an easier way?
Thanks.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Killer Queen // Nov 9, 2008
Put your eggs in the cold water and then boil it for 3 minutes. Take it off the heat and let the eggs cook in the water for 20 minutes. Don't cover. Adding salt or vinegar to the water will help the eggs not crack too. Then when they are done, drain the water. If you want warm eggs, eat them. If you like cold eggs, immediately put them in a waiting bowl of ice water. This will make the yolks yellow and not that green gray color.
This is for large eggs. If you use jumbo, you might need another 5 minutes. Don't worry, you aren't the only one to have problems with boiled eggs. There's a method to cooking them and you just need to know what it is.
Edit: Also this is for hard-boiled. If you like soft-booiled, you will need to reduce the heating time to about 10-12 minutes.
2 Luv2Cook // Nov 9, 2008
Start with cold water and put the eggs in the cold water. Turn heat to high. When water boils, let boil for 1 minute. Turn the heat off, let pan rest on stove for 12 minutes. They will be perfect. The rapid boiling just beats the eggs up, cracks the shells immediately and makes them harder to peel and overcooks them.
3 Billie R // Nov 9, 2008
Start your eggs in cold water- just enough to cover them. Bring to boil, as soon as it hits a boil- cover the pan and lower the heat to a slow simmer- (just a little ripple) for 12 minutes- seriously- time it. Take them off the heat and drain the water- then move the pan back and forth for a minute to crack the shells a little- this helps release the sulfur- and put under cold running water for a minute.
4 Ryan H // Nov 9, 2008
put the egg in boiling water.
5 zombie // Nov 9, 2008
put eggs in the cold water and add a little salt in the water.
boil if for 5-10 mins and then cover it with the stove off.
6 Mark S // Nov 9, 2008
Pierce them before you boil them. There are egg piercers available at specialty stores, but a pushpin from your corkboard works just as well.
Pierce the ‘fat’ end, then put them in the cold water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling fast, give ‘em about eight minutes max — but that can vary based on your height above sea level, so if you are in Denver give it ten if you want them hard but still yellow.