Boiling eggs, the technique

Here, then, are the steps on how I hard boil eggs.

Prep
Make sure your kitchen sink is completely empty.

Step 1:
Take the dozen eggs out of the refrigerator and place them on the counter.  You want the eggs to be room temperature before boiling.

Step 2:
Fill your kettle about half way with hot tap water.  Remember, you will be boiling off a lot of this water, so do not skimp.  You need to keep the eggs covered at all times.

Step 3:
Place your kettle on the stove and turn on the heat.  For gas stoves, make sure the flames are not wrapping around the bottom of the kettle.  For electric stoves, make sure you select a burner size that is smaller than the bottom of your kettle and select a medium-high setting.

Incorrect burner size.

Correct burner size.

Step 4:
Set your timer to 18 minutes.  You don’t want to be fooling around with this after you submerge your eggs, so get it ready now!

Step 5:
Keep an eye on the kettle.  Regardless of the axiom, a watched pot does boil, and you need to be ready when it does.

Water at simmer (small bubbles and steam rising)

Water at boil (also called full or rolling boil)

Step 6:
When your water is at boil, it is time to put in the eggs.  Place one egg on the slotted spoon.  Lower the egg slowly to the bottom of the kettle using the side of the kettle for a guide, like the picture below:

You may wish to wear a heat-resistant silicone oven mitt for this step, as you will be placing your hand in steam rising from the boiling water.  Roll the egg gently off of the spoon.  Repeat for remaining eggs.

As you can see, not one egg cracked.  Also, the water stopped boiling because the eggs absorbed some of the heat.  This is normal; the water will return to a boil.

Step 7:
Once the last egg is in, start your timer IMMEDIATELY!

Step 8:
When the timer goes off, take the kettle and place it in a sink.  Start running a slow stream of cold water into the kettle, as pictured below:

Keep the water running until you can put your finger into the water without feeling any heat.  This helps dissipate the residual heat and keeps the eggs from overcooking.  Overcooking results in a green ring around the yolk.  According to the American Egg Board, eggs turning green when overcooked is a natural chemical reaction, thus resulting in Green Eggs and Ham.

Step 9:
Remove the eggs and dry them with a clean kitchen towel before placing back in the carton.

Step 10:
Mark on the carton that the eggs are “boilt” and place them back into the refrigerator.

You now have hard-boiled eggs, as pictured below:

As always, I welcome your comments.  Click on the Comment link below; it may say "No" or have a number in front of it.