The Perfect 7 Minute Egg

My eggdiction didn’t get started until I mastered the 7 minute egg. Now pimping out a plate with a golden, gushing yolk is quick and easy. Do you need a recipe for this… probably not. But there is one strict rule to making the perfect 7 Minute egg that must be followed. Start the timer when the egg hits water that is already boiling. From here experimenting between a jammy 7 minute egg or a more solid 8 minutes yolk is simple.

Directions:

1. Bring 6 cups of water to a rapid boil over high heat. With a spoon, lower eggs into the water.
2. Turn the heat down slightly to prevent the eggs from bouncing too rapidly and cracking open in the water. What you’re looking for is a simmer with surface bubbles that circulates the water.
3. Start the clock! You’ll want to be patient for exactly 7 minutes.
4. To keep yourself busy for 7 minutes, prep a medium bowl of cold water and a few ice cubes. This will be your ice bath to stop the cooking once you hit 7 minutes.
5. When the 7 Minutes is up quickly drain the pot and get the eggs as quickly as possible into the ice bath. Let sit for about 10 minutes or as long as it takes to comfortably handle the eggs.
6. Peel and eat immediately.

 

Find Your Perfect Boiled Egg

What’s the perfect time to boil and egg, is a very personal question! While I go for a 7 minute egg, Paolo likes a 6 minute egg. If you have picky eaters, simply take a sharpie and write 6, 7, 8 or whatever minute your family prefers on the outside of the egg shell. Then watch the timer and pluck the egg you need out at the appropriate time and again, quickly plunge it into the ice bath to wait for the rest!

Bon Appétit has a guide better than any others I’ve seen to helping you determine your perfect egg boiling time. I actually took this page out of their magazine and have it in my recipe binder as a quick guide! Since I’m not giving up my copy, ever I found a link to their online guide for you.

How to Quickly Peel Boiled Eggs

As you can tell, soft jammy boiled eggs are an eggsession of mine. Peeling them, however is not. I used to hate it! Every method from the tap and peel to the spoon under the shell trick, I’ve tried. It wasn’t until working at Food Network and seeing a more profession approach, that I finally went from loathing to loving peeling eggs.

The quickest and easiest method for peeling boiled eggs is the pot shake.

• Step 1: Add an inch of water to the pot the eggs were boiled in.
• Step 2: Add all the eggs you want to peel immediately back into the pot and put the lid back on.
• Step 3: If your pot is still hot, grab a towel to wrap the handles and lid of the pot together and you got it, shake it! For 30 seconds.

It’s going to take a few rounds of practice to nail the perfect level of vigorous shaking. Start light and as you get braver, shake a bit harder. Nailing the right shaking technique might mean sacrificing a few eggs the first few times you try but in the long run it’s worth it. After a few good practice rounds, I can shake the pot and open it to find each egg completely peeled. I swear it’s like magic! It probably goes without saying but with a six minute egg, shake less vigorously than an eight minute egg.

Water Pressure Peels Boiled Eggs

If you don’t want to sacrifice any eggs, you can shake the pot just vigorously enough to dislodge the shells. Peeling eggs by hand is still far easier after a decent shake.

Another trick is leveraging good old fashion water pressure. Once the shells are dislodged, turn the tap on and peel the egg under running water. Once that first good bit of shell peels away, a bit of water pressure quickly dislodges the rest.

How Long Are Boiled Eggs Good For?

Marking eggs with a sharpie is a trick I learned from my Mother. She used to boil half a dozen eggs at a time and keep them in the same egg crate. To avoid the frustrating experience of cracking open a boiled egg while baking cookies, she would put a big X on the eggs she boiled.

Which begs the question, how long are eggs good for once they are boiled? For this fact, I turn to the folks who have a vested interested in making sure you buy and use eggs! The American Egg Board puts a shelf life of 1 week on boiled eggs (in shell).

Eggs	Refrigerator (35°F to 40°F)
Raw whole eggs (in shell)	4 to 5 weeks beyond the pack date or about 3 weeks after purchase
Raw whole eggs (slightly beaten)	Up to 2 days
Raw egg whites	Up to 4 days
Raw egg yolks	Up to 2 days
Hard-boiled eggs (in shell)	Up to 1 week
Hard-boiled eggs (peeled)	Use the same day for best quality

So next time you need a little more than what the pantry has to give, crack an egg on it, fry it up or go for the perfect 7 minute egg. You’re bound to be glad you #putaneggonit.