When it comes to boiled eggs, even people who can't cook can manage to make them. However, to achieve an egg with a tender yolk and an easy-to-peel white, many people might just be leaving it to chance. Recently, the American magazine *Cooking Light* introduced four brilliant tips for boiling eggs.
1. Don't use boiling water
First, boiling water will cause the egg to roll violently in the pot, easily cracking the shell and even exposing the white. Secondly, the proteins in the egg coagulate and denature at a much lower temperature, typically between 60°C and 87°C, whereas boiling water is 100°C. If you boil with boiling water, the white may become as tough as rubber. Therefore, when boiling eggs, you should cook them with the lid off, letting the water simmer gently rather than boil vigorously.
2. Keep the cooking time short and cool the egg afterward
An egg with a fully cooked white and a completely solid yolk needs to be boiled for 10 minutes, but if you want a soft-boiled egg with a tender yolk, about 6 minutes should be sufficient. If the egg is cooked for too long, it will develop an unpleasant sulfur smell. Another important point is to cool the egg in cold water immediately after taking it out of the pot; otherwise, the residual heat will continue to cook it and make it tougher.
Boiled Egg
3. Slightly older eggs are easier to peel
We all think the fresher the better, but for boiled eggs, it's not necessary to use the freshest ones. In fact, slightly older eggs are actually easier to peel. If you store eggs in the refrigerator for a few days, their pH value will rise slightly, causing the bond between the white and the inner shell membrane to loosen.
4. A green ring around the yolk is harmless
If you overcook an egg, you might notice a green ring around the yolk. This is a reaction between sulfides in the yolk and iron and is not harmful at all. It can be avoided simply by not cooking the egg for too long.