How Do I Hard Boil An Egg? Then What?

I have no doubt that there are more “recipes” for hard boiling eggs than there are egg varieties. I only know what works for me. I’ve been boiling eggs the same way for 30 years and it works every time. If you don’t cook an egg long enough, you will end up with a runny center. If you cook it too long, the yolk with have a greenish tinge to it. You can eat the eggs in either of those cases, but what you are going for is a nice bright yellow, cooked yolk. Once in a while I will get an egg that is slightly undercooked because of the position in the pan (I eat it).

For this article, I used 6 eggs. There are only 2 of us here, and we have to eat everything I’m posting for all of you. I didn’t want us to overdose on eggs today. You can do this exactly the same way for any number of eggs, just adjust your pan size accordingly. Place the eggs in a pan and cover them with cold water. Place on the burner and turn onto high heat (my stove is electric, if you have a gas stove, you may need to adjust the temperature a bit or add an extra inch of water to the pan). Set your timer for 16 minutes. Do not forget to set the timer and look at the eggs to make certain they are not boiling dry. If the water boils dry, the eggs will explode. I know this for a fact. Remember how I told you I was sharing my mistakes? The eggs will come to a rolling boil. When the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the heat and set the timer for 2 more minutes. After the 2 minutes, fill the egg pan with cold water and let the eggs cool down. At this point, your eggs are ready to peel and use. Some eggs are harder to peel than others. If the eggs don’t peel “pretty” they can still be chopped and used on salads, or mixed with a little mayonnaise, pickle and celery for egg salad.

*Mom hint-fresh eggs are harder to peel. If I know I’m going to be making deviled eggs soon, I try to buy my eggs at least a week in advance.

Deviled eggs are a favorite at my house, and for potlucks or cocktail parties. They are inexpensive to make, easy and will disappear before most of the other food items.

Deviled Eggs

This recipe is for 6 eggs which makes 12 deviled eggs. If you want to make 24 deviled eggs, cook 12 eggs and double the rest of the ingredients.

6 hard boiled eggs, cooled and cut in half
2 tsp. yellow mustard (you can use spicy mustard for a slightly different taste)
2 tsp. white vinegar (red wine vinegar will also work, but will change the color of the eggs a little bit)
2 T. mayonnaise (I use light, you can also use Miracle Whip if you like the taste of it)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Place the cooked yolks in a bowl with a pinch of salt (I use kosher salt) and mash with a fork until all large lumps are gone. Add vinegar, mustard and mayonnaise and stir rapidly with a fork to blend. Add a little black pepper and mix. Spoon filling into empty egg whites. Be careful not to fill them too full or you will run out of filling. You can serve as is, or sprinkle with paprika or top with olive slices for a “party” look.
　
　
　
　

Mom’s Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

The first thing to know about cooking with chicken is to be very careful with sanitation. Rinse the chicken in cold water before cooking it. Wash your hands and all surfaces that come in contact with raw chicken with hot, soapy water and/or a product made for kitchen clean-up.

For this soup you can use whatever form of chicken you want. You can buy a whole chicken and cut it into pieces (I don’t think it is worth the effort), frozen bags of boneless breasts, or assorted fresh chicken pieces from the meat case. I like to use a whole chicken already cut in pieces. The skin gives the broth more flavor than the boneless, skinless bagged pieces. I generally cook the gizzard, liver, heart and back in a small pan of water and give it to my dog. Some people actually eat those parts. We don’t.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut in pieces. Do not use liver, gizzard, or heart for soup.
1 cup chopped carrots (baby carrots or whole carrots peeled)
1 cup chopped celery
2 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
2 bay leaves
15 cups water (I have a big pot)
7 oz. dry egg noodles (I try to buy the most homemade looking I can find)

Rinse the chicken and place in large pot. If you are cooking for one or two people, and don’t have a large pot, just use one or two pieces of chicken and cover it with water. You will need to cut down the other ingredients as well, including the salt. You really can’t mess this up. Cover the chicken with the 15 cups of water, add the carrots, celery, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and let cook for about 2 hours until the chicken is very tender. Remove the chicken from the pot to cool. Remove the bay leaves.

At this point in the process, I remove 5 cups of the broth and put it in a freezer container. Let it cool, and freeze it. You will be very glad to have it on a different night. Bring the remaining broth back to a boil, and stir in the noodles. Reduce to simmer and cover. The package should give you the amount of time for your particular noodles to cook (mine took 20 minutes). While the noodles are cooking, remove the chicken from the bones and skin. Cut or shred into bite size pieces. Measure 2 cups of chicken and add to the cooked noodles and broth. Add salt and pepper as needed. The remaining chicken can be placed in freezer bags and frozen, or you may refrigerate it for sandwiches the next day.

At a later date you can thaw the frozen broth, add the frozen chicken and simply place in a pan and bring to a simmer. Add a handful of rice, pasta or noodles and you have a second meal.
　
*Mom hint-Bay leaves are not poisonous but they do have sharp edges and can be a choking hazard. Make sure you always remove them before serving the food.