Got EGGS?

I love a good hard-boiled egg.  The emphasis here is on the word good.  It is SO hard to get a good hard boiled egg.  It is almost impossible.  I am forever grateful to Alton Brown for teaching me an easier way to make PERFECT hard-boiled eggs - don't boil them at all BAKE THEM!  A few years ago for some event I got this book (and you can too, just click the link)---

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This book is part recipe book/ part food science manual.  Alton goes into the how and why of cooking.   I was always good at Chemistry in high school and college so Alton Brown's descriptive science teacher style really communicated to me. 

Alton Brown's recipe for Baked Hard Cooked Eggs is the best recipe you can use.  You can find a printable version of this recipe - click here. (I found it on Food.com.)  Baked eggs are better because they are less sulfurous (smelly) and the texture of the finished eggs is creamier.  They are really delicious!  You will be amazed!

Alton Brown's Baked Eggs

Prep Time: 2 min.
Total Time: 32 min.

Ingredients: 

2 - 4 dozen eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Position the oven racks in the center of the oven.
2. Place the eggs parallel to the bars on the racks.  (see picture below)
3. Place a baking sheet pan in the bottom of the oven (just in case an egg breaks).  I have never had a mess in my oven in all the times I have made this recipe.  I have had eggs break, but they cooked inside when they do so there is no mess
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. When the eggs are done, fill a large bowl with ice water and move the eggs into the bowl.  I do this a few minutes ahead of time to make sure the water is COLD!
6. Peel the eggs as soon as they're cool enough to handle, then return them to the ice water to thoroughly chill.  I think that the eggs are easier to peel if they are allowed to chill in the water for at least 10 minutes.  Also, I peel the eggs under cool running water.  

 This recipe works best with the freshest eggs you can find.

Here are some photos of the process:

See? Parallel to the bars of the rack.  I baked them for YEARS going the other way and I was always worried that they were going to roll around and break.  Sheesh!  I wish I'd figured out this little bit of Physics before. 

Prepping the ice water.  As you can see, I needed to get rid of the strange icy clump in the bottom of my ice dispenser.  It worked very nicely.  Thank you for asking. 

Close Up!  These brown spots on the shells are NORMAL!  They dissolve right off in the ice water. 

Remove the eggs from the oven with spring-loaded tongs or  a heavy duty oven mitt. 

Chilling in the ice water.  See the egg in the bottom right corner, the brown spots are disappearing right before your eyes. 

Store the eggs in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  There are small brown spots on the egg whites.  This is NORMAL and does not affect the flavor of the eggs. 

Now that you have these eggs, what can you do with them?  How about this:

Yummy, Yummy Potato Salad

 or some of these:

Delectable Deviled Eggs

Come back tomorrow for Part 2 of my mini-series on EGGS.  I will share my recipes for Delectable Deviled Eggs and Tanya's Potato Salad.  Delicious!  I can hardly wait!  

To see part 2 of my egg miniseries click HERE. 

UPDATE: If you only need to make a few eggs, I show you Alton Brown's method for steaming eggs HERE.  The eggs are not quite as great as baking them, but they are still drool-worthy! Check it out!  

Elsewhere at The Asylum, I share my recipe for egg salad HERE. I even made some crafty eggs for Easter HERE.  BUT - If you really, really want to boil your eggs - I show you how I boil mine HERE!

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