It’s easy to make a beautiful hard boiled egg that is perfect for breakfast, a snack, to slice onto a salad, or to create deviled eggs. It all begins with a bit of mindfulness when shopping.

As with all food products, buy the best eggs you can afford. This might mean the daily special in the grocers, or it may mean a trip to the local farmer for a batch of eggs fresh laid this morning by free range chickens.

Before trying to boil an entire dozen for deviling, practice the following technique with two to three eggs. When you are ready to boil in larger quantities, you’ll have a better idea as to the size of the pot and ice bath required.

Directions:

Place the eggs in a large pot that gives the eggs plenty of room. Fill the pot with cold water to at least one inch above the eggs.

Add 1 t vinegar to the water. The vinegar reduces cracking and makes removing the shell an easy task.

Set the pan on a cold burner and bring the water to a full rolling boil – do not rush removing the pot from the hot burner.

If you are unsure if the boil is “full enough”, let it go a 20 seconds or so and see if the boil gets bigger. A short time at a boil will not harm the eggs.

Such a pretty boiled egg

Remove the pot from heat, cover, and let it sit off the burner for 12 minutes. Yep, 12 minutes exactly. Not 12 minutes and 16 seconds.

Fill a bowl with cold water – choose a bowl deep enough to cover the eggs. Add in six or eight ice cubes.

Using two spoons to hold onto each egg, carefully remove them from the hot water into the ice bath. Drain the rest of the water into the sink.

Let the eggs sit and chill for five minutes.

Place the eggs in a container for storing in the fridge to enjoy later – or peel for immediate enjoyment.

I received the directions for this a long while back via word of mouth with no reference. It seems to be a common intertube search result and so I will credit all of those I did not know who used this method, likely before I did.  My thanks to all of you.