Zhi Wei's Cooking Tips - Hard Boiled Eggs

Haha.. Hard Boiled Eggs.. How hard can making them be..? Not very hard actually.. Now the thing here is making them effectively..

Its often heart-wrenching to see how people make their hard boiled eggs.. Have you ever cracked open an egg thinking that it was done but it ends up under-cooked? Have you ever drop an egg into the water before it was boiling?

Now.. I can't keep quiet anymore.. Let me share my experiences with hard-boiling eggs..

First of all, let me talk about the pots we use to cook the eggs.. The ideal pot to use is actually a pot that can fit the amount of eggs you're cooking just nicely.. Never! I mean never, put a single egg into a pot that can fit 3 or 4 eggs.. The idea situation for me I think is to find a pot that can fit 3 and a half eggs and then put 3 eggs in it.. This allows the eggs some space to breath and yet does not waste the available space and water in the pot..

The next golden rule to observe is that we should make sure that we completely submerge the eggs we are cooking in the water.. Being completely submerged, it cooks way faster, thus saving some gas money and time.. Another thing to take note is that I personally prefer to only put the eggs in the water only after the water has started boiling.. This to me means that the eggs are being expose to a constant temperature after hitting the water.. Boil for around 5-8 minutes depending on the size and amount of the eggs and the size of the pot.. The bigger the scale of the set-up, the more likely it will take longer.. The type of pot used also affects the timing too..

Lastly, how do we know that the egg has completely being hard-boiled? I find that the safest sign to show that an egg has being hard-boiled is when the egg shell has started to have these huge cracks and you know that the crack is not caused by you stirring too hard or what so ever..

Disclaimers: These are my personal opinions, and you can choose not to follow it.. Though it is my belief that despite being some very basic tips, some people out there still overlook some of the steps and cause unnecessary trouble for themselves.. I love eggs, and cook them on a scale ranging from home-usage, 1-2 eggs, to catering scale, 50-80 eggs at one go, for my work's purposes.. Of course when cooking at a larger scale, some factors might change, and I certainly get better equipment at work.. But it is my believe that if the above rules are followed, the eggs should be nicely cooked for home-usage..