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Boiled Eggs
Boiled eggs to slice nicely should be put over the fire in cold water and should remain fifteen minutes after the water begins to boil, and allowed to cool in the same water. If cooled by dropping them into cold water, they will not slice smoothly.
A one-paragraph method aimed at eggs firm enough to slice for salads and sandwiches. Two of its three instructions are still sound; the timing is not.
- Fifteen minutes is too longFifteen minutes after the boil begins overcooks the yolk, leaving it chalky and ringed with grey-green iron sulphide. Ten to twelve minutes off the heat, with the pan covered, gives a fully set yolk that slices cleanly.
- Cold start, then no boilStarting in cold water, as directed, heats the egg evenly and reduces cracking. Modern practice takes it further: bring the water just to a boil, then cover and remove from the heat rather than letting it churn, which knocks the shells about.
- The cooling claimThe instruction not to shock the eggs runs against common modern advice. Cooling in cold or iced water stops the yolk cooking and is widely held to ease peeling; roughness in the slice is more often blamed on a torn peel than on the chilling itself.
- Egg sizeEggs of the period generally ran smaller than a modern large or extra-large. If using large eggs, allow roughly a minute longer.
- Age of the eggVery fresh eggs peel badly whatever the method. Eggs a week or more old separate from the shell much more cleanly, which matters when the object is a smooth slice.
- SlicingChill the peeled eggs thoroughly before slicing and use a thin, wet blade or a wire egg slicer. Warm yolks crumble regardless of how carefully the egg was boiled.
Instructions this precise about hard-boiled eggs appear in turn-of-the-century American cookbooks because sliced egg was a staple garnish: it topped salads, lined sandwich plates, ringed cold fish and dressed molded dishes, all of which show every flaw in a crumbled yolk or a pitted white. The concern with slicing "nicely" is a concern with appearance at a period when cold luncheon and supper tables were arranged for display. The advice against cooling in cold water is traditional rather than tested; later work on peeling and on the iron-sulphide ring largely runs the other way.