Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Oreo and the Reds are in full production, despite the season. Doc and I are swimming in eggs. So we make hard boiled eggs.

Not every egg is perfect. Filthy eggs and ground eggs go straight to the reject bin. We also got one enormous egg from Vo and a tiny "fart egg" from a Red. But until winter sun started cutting in to production, we had a backlog of 10 dozen eggs on the counter.

Vo made the giant egg. A Red made the yolkless "fart egg".

Thanks to aggressive hard-boiled egg consumption, we are down to a more comfortable backlog. In the process, Doc has mastered the art of making the Perfect Hard Boiled Egg.

Even after feasting, we have a big backlog of eggs.

Start with old eggs at room temperature. We use eggs that have been on the counter for just over two weeks. Refrigerated store bought eggs average about 60 days old, so you are fine to boil them after a few minutes of warming on the counter top.


Seven Steps to Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

1. Clean the eggs to remove any dirt or nastiness that might give them a funky flavor.
2. Fill a pan with room-temperature water. Doc uses a Wok.
3. Add one or two dozen eggs to the water.
4. Turn the stove top to high heat.
5. Set the timer for 15 minutes to get 10-12 minutes of boil time.
6. Place eggs in ice water using a slotted spoon.
7. After 5 minutes, dry and refrigerate.

Hot eggs melted all the ice.

The boil time varies by altitude. To find the right amount of time for your conditions, test your first hard boiled egg before you chill the rest. Chill it for a few seconds and peel it as soon as you can. Cut the egg in half. If the white is solid and the yolk is solid yellow, you have made perfect hard boiled eggs. If the white or yolk is a little runny, they are still soft boiled and you need to let the others boil for another minute or two (be sure to test again). If the yolk is green, you have boiled the eggs too long and the others need to be removed now.

Now it is time to enjoy your hard boiled eggs. They are wonderful as a breakfast sandwich with mayo. They are a delight with marinara and linguine. They are a convenient nutritious snack at any time.

Oh the chickeny joy!

Washing Stinky Eggs

I have tried to keep my chicken world as natural as is practical. I feed them layer pellets, table scraps, and black oil sunflower seed. I let them roam a quarter acre chicken run all day so they can do what comes naturally.

When they got ready to lay eggs I started researching egg handling methods. There are two basic approaches recommended by practitioners.

• Wash, rinse, sanitize, and refrigerate the eggs. This is the practice of the big operations that sell eggs to the market. Small Texas farmers who sell eggs directly to consumers appear to be exempt.
• Wash poo-crusted eggs, flick spotty eggs, otherwise leave the bloom intact. Do not refrigerate the eggs. This is the practice of many backyard chicken owners.

I went with the backyard method since it kept the natural antibacterial barrier intact. Truth be told, I have lots of important stuff to do am lazy and this is less work.

I noticed a funny smell in my kitchen near the eggs. I eliminated the kitchen chemicals, dirty dishes, and moldy leftovers other stuff. The weird "chemical" smell was coming from my eggs!

I searched around and found a handy site on egg quality. It described a number of causes and remedies. After a bit of introspection I had to reluctantly agree that I should wash my eggs.

I am going to start washing and refrigerating my eggs every day. Real soon now.

Update: I learned that the funny smell was coming from a hidden pool of gunk. I now keep my bloom-intact eggs on the counter for up to 10 days. After that, I take steps to use them.