Friday, August 24, 2007

Method Madness: The Perfect Hardboiled Egg

There are countless Tips and Tricks that you pick up along the way in this industry. Small methods that cut down energy needed to do a task and make your life a whole lot easier.

Its in the spirit of spreading GOOD Information that I will now share tricks and tips that I have learned that I know to work well in a segment I’m going to call Method Madness.

Today I give you:

The Perfect Hardboiled Egg

Credit for this trick has to go to Chef John Reilly. Chef Reilly showed me this trick when I was in his Garde Marger class and it has NEVER failed me. It takes 10 minutes to make the perfect hardboiled egg.

First:
-Place eggs into pot; fill pot with warm water from tap till they cover eggs then one inch above.

-Place pot onto stove, DO NOT SALT THE WATER. Even though an egg has pores there is little point to salting the water, the short time it takes the egg to coagulate (cook) does not allow the salt to pass through the pores and have a good enough effect on flavor. Adding salt also changes the reaction of heat with the water. Contrary to popular belief it does NOT make water boil faster, it merely holds the water temp higher for a longer period of time.

-Turn on heat to high, cover pot.

-When water begins to boil start timer. Let boil for 5 Minutes

-After water has boiled for 5 minutes remove pot from heat, uncover and let sit for 5 More Minutes.

-After it has rested for 5 More Minutes place eggs into an ice bath to cool.

- Enjoy immediately or hold. You will notice the whites are perfectly cooked and the yolks are bright yellow with no grey or green spots.

The Perfect Hardboiled Egg!

3 comments:

h said...

WTF? Just enough warm water to cover 90% of the eggs. When water boils down to where it covers 50% of egg, they're done. Then IMMEDIATELY into cold water bath.

The Foodist said...

Im slightly confused at your response.

Are you suggesting another way of doing hardboiled eggs?

Anne said...

Great directions - I just tried it and the eggs were indeed quite perfect. Thanks!