Kenji Lopez-Alt/NY Times article: the best way to hard boil an egg

KLA attacks the universal problem of a perfect, tender, easily peeled hard-boiled egg, in his usual fashion: with a dozen friends and 700(!) eggs from a variety of sources, cooked every way possible.

A great read, and the recipe link is in the article:

How to Boil the Perfect Egg

In his first column for The Times, J. Kenji López-Alt tests his way to the best egg: perfectly peelable and tender throughout.
The perfect steamed hard boiled egg

PS re access:
NY Times allows max 5 free articles per month.
Also, I put in the title of the article because like the WSJournal, the NY Times allows anyone to Google the title (something general like this one, it helps to add Kenji’s name). Click on the Google link and you can access for free.

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spoilers

Since the article is behind a pay wall . . . . it is still an interesting read if you subscribe or choose to do a free trial subscription . . . . . but so we can discuss . . . .

But the long and short - he recommends steaming (as many on here do as well) essentially, says that plunging into ice water after cooking makes them harder to peel and doesn’t decrease likelihood of a green ring . . . . 6 minutes for a warm liquid yolk and firm whites, 8 1/2 minutes for a translucent, fudgy yolk, or 11 minutes for a yolk that is just barely firm all the way through.

My family, for deviled eggs, has decided we prefer 13 min - since the whites are a little firmer (easier to pick up) and the yolks have lost all their “fudgy” looking bits. We cook cold, straight from the fridge - as did KLA for his timings.

“STEAMING!”, I shouted when I saw the teaser headline. My enduring thanks to whichever Hunion intruduced me to that method. Kenji didn’t mention that steaming has the added convenience of allowing the pot to hold more than a single layer of eggs. As for debunking the ice bath, if you don’t immediately dunk the eggs in cold (at least!) water, cooking will continue. Not a good thing. The times I did my previous technique, the 12 minute steep in boiling water with the heat turned off, and forgot the timer, I got eggs that were rubbery, and impossible to peel.

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