How to Make Soft Boiled Eggs

Fill a large saucepan with enough water to immerse the eggs completely. Add a sprinkling of salt. Set on high and wait to add the eggs until the water is at a full boil.  Using a slotted spoon, gently lower the eggs into the boiling water being careful not to allow the eggs to hit the sides of the pan. Cook for three to four minutes. Plunge in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.

How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs

Fill a large saucepan with enough cold water to immerse the eggs completely. Add a sprinkling of salt.  Add the eggs to the cold water before cooking. Don't overcrowd the pan. Set on high and wait for the water to come to a full boil. Remove from heat and cover. Let sit for eight minutes.  Plunge in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.

Why Add Salt?

Scientifically speaking adding salt to a pan of water does not make it boil faster.  In fact, if enough salt is added to the water it will actually boil slower.

Adding salt to the water when boiling eggs will help the egg white solidify more quickly if the egg escapes from the shell, minimizing mess and keeping the intact.

How to Prevent the Green Yolk

The green ring around your egg yolk is the reaction of the iron in the yolk with the sulfur in the egg white.  When heated the two begin to create ferrous sulfide and hydrogen sulfide gas. To avoid the green yolk, don't overcook your eggs and immediately plunge them in an ice water bath to stop them from cooking further when taken off the heat.

How to Peel a Hard Boiled Egg

Have you ever boiled an egg and then picked away at the shell fruitlessly only to have most of the egg stick to the shell? You didn't undercook them. You didn't overcook them.  And there wasn't a secret ingredient you should have added to the water to make the egg peel easier. Your mistake? The eggs you purchased were simply too fresh.

The freshest eggs may be the best for that Eggs Benedict recipe, but when looking for an egg that will boil well and peel easily you will want to choose older eggs.  The reason lies within the anatomy of an egg. Every egg contains an air cell located at the wide end of the egg between the inner and outer membranes. This air cell is a result of the cooling process after the egg is laid.  As an egg ages the air cell expands pulling the inside of the egg away from the shell.  In terms of boiling an egg, the older the egg, the larger the air cell, the easier the egg is to peel.