Boiled Eggs
Of the different methods of boiling eggs the old reliable is to put them in boiling water and boil three minutes for a soft boil, five minutes for medium, and eight to ten minutes for hard, if to be eaten at once. For stuffing, garnishing, and for picnic or lunches, twenty to thirty minutes' boiling is not too long. Another way is to put the eggs in boiling water and let them stand on the range for ten minutes, keeping them covered and very hot, but not allowing them to boil. The whites will then be thoroughly cooked, but not hard, and it is claimed that they are more easily digested than when subjected to rapid boiling. Still another method is to place them in cold water and let them come to a quick boil. As soon as the water boils the eggs are soft, and the same additional time is required for medium-and hard-boiled as by the old method. Cooked in this way the whites will not be toughened as by rapid boiling, and the yolks will be of a creamy consistency.
Three approaches are described here, and only one of them has been overturned by modern practice. The twenty- to thirty-minute boil recommended for stuffed and picnic eggs will give you a grey-green yolk with a sulphurous edge; ten to twelve minutes off the boil is the ceiling.
- The long boilIron in the yolk and sulphur in the white combine at length and heat to form ferrous sulphide, the grey-green ring around an overcooked yolk. For deviled eggs and lunch boxes, twelve minutes is ample; beyond that you gain nothing but discolouration and a rubbery white.
- Egg size and starting temperatureThe entry does not say what size of egg it assumes, nor whether the eggs are chilled. A large egg taken straight from the refrigerator will need longer than a small one at room temperature; three minutes may leave the white slack around the yolk.
- The standing method is the best of the threeThe standing method -- The book leaves the covered pan on the range, hot but below the boil, rather than taking it off the heat; the effect is close to modern coddling. Water held below boiling sets the white soft rather than tightening it, which is what the writer appears to mean by easier digestion. For a firm-but-creamy yolk this is the most dependable of the three methods in the entry.
- "Let them come to a quick boil"Starting eggs in cold water means the timing depends on your pan, your burner and the volume of water, so results vary between kitchens. It does reduce cracking, since the shells warm gradually.
- Stop the cookingThe original gives no cooling step. Eggs carry on cooking in their own heat, so anything meant to be hard-cooked should go straight into cold water. This also contracts the white slightly from the shell and makes peeling far less destructive.
- PeelingVery fresh eggs peel badly, whatever the method. Eggs a week or more old shell cleanly, which matters for the stuffing and garnishing the entry mentions.
- AltitudeWater boils below 212F at any elevation above sea level, and from around 3,000 feet up the difference is enough that every time here needs lengthening. Judge by a test egg rather than the clock.
- YieldNo quantity is given because none is needed; the timings hold for a few eggs in a small pan of water. Crowd a dozen into the same pan and the water temperature drops far enough to throw the timing off, so use plenty of water or work in batches.