How To Hard Boil An Egg

Since the beginning of time, or at least since the first time man came to be introduced to the bird egg, our species has been asking about how to hard boil an egg. From a historical perspective, we met the bird egg before we had fire, but that did not stop us from imagining the deliciousness of a tender egg white wrapped around a creamy, non-green/grey, delicate egg yolk. And when we finally got fire, it was a boiled egg extravaganza.

Rumor has it that the Egg Board started in ancient Egypt with pelican eggs being the main egg of choice. It was all over the pyramid walls. Boiled eggs were certainly on the menu. The ancient Egyptians just couldn’t say no to a Pelican Egg Fritatta. They were a favorite of the pharaohs. What a relief it was that King Tut’s revenge wasn’t salmonella. It was not until ancient Rome that the ever famous “Ovum Magnum Mandi Possunt” or “Incredible Edible Egg” saying was developed by a small Roman PR firm.Talk about a classic and long running campaign. Their first campaign “Ova , Comedetis Vis” “Eggs, Eat All You Want” just wasn’t believable and it miffed the Senate – not great!

In medieval times the chicken eggs runeth over. They were everywhere and they were cheap. In medieval France they were used in cooking and it was believed that eggs from chickens were the best and peacock the worst for digestion. It was also noted that soft boiled was better than hard and poached even better. Fried really took a beating though…

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Goodness knows anything that is converted to bad humours should certainly be avoided. I wonder if “bad humours” is what they called LDL cholesterol back then. No PR firm could help the fate of fried eggs.

By the time the 19th century rolled around, everyone was boiling up eggs and more. They knew exactly what to do to make the best hard boiled eggs.

From The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, translated by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son and Marston:London] 1869 (p. 177)

And why learn how to hard boil an egg? Egg Salad of course!

(8 eggs will make enough egg salad for 4 sandwiches. Chop the eggs and mix with the ingredients to taste!)

8 Hardboiled Eggs + A Big Dollop Of Mayonnaise + Salt and Pepper to taste = Simple and Delicious Egg Salad

8 Hardboiled Eggs + A Big Dollop Of Mayonnaise + A Dollop of Mustard + Some Chopped Celery + Salt and Pepper to taste = Simple and Delicious Classic Egg Salad

8 Hardboiled Eggs + A Big Dollop Of Mayonnaise + 3 Crumbled Bacon Strips + Salt and Pepper to taste = Simple and Delicious Bacony Egg Salad

8 Hardboiled Eggs + A Big Dollop Of Mayonnaise + A few TBSP of Fresh Peas + Salt and Pepper to taste = Simple and Delicious Springtime Egg Salad

8 Hardboiled Eggs + A Big Dollop Of Mayonnaise + Some Fresh Dill + Salt and Pepper to taste = Simple and Delicious Herby Egg Salad

And for you YOLK-A-PHOBES (you know who you are…)

The Whites of 8 Hardboiled Eggs + 1/2 a Ripe Mashed Avocado + Squeeze of Fresh Lemon Juice + Finely Diced Cucumber + Chopped Cilantro + Salt and Pepper to taste (maybe a dash of red chilli flake, too) = Yolk-A-Phobes Egg Salad!

Now let’s get boiling eggs!

Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!

How and for how long do you boil your eggs for?  Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.

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