Title: How to cook eggs to perfect 10
 Categories: Eggs, Info
      Yield: 1 Servings
 
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  A hard-cooked egg is an example of elegant simplicity in both colour
  and shape.  Deep yellow plays on pure white; a perfect sphere sits
  near the centre of a polished oval.
  
  The clean lines of hard-cooked egg cut in half are a pleasing
  counterpoint to a tumble of crisp summer greens. Yet cooking an egg
  perfectly is not always an easy task. Wrinkles on the surface, a
  dented end or a pitted surface caused by trying to peel a
  recalcitrant egg can easily spoil its impact.
  
  Cracked shells are often a problem; egg white oozes through the
  crack, so that hardened wrinkles then mar the surface.
  
  The best way to avoid cracking the shell is, before cooking, to place
  the eggs in a saucepan and cover them with lukewarm water. This
  elminates the rapid expansion of the air inside the shell that
  results when cold eggs hit boiling water.
  
  Beginning with a moderate temperature, this allows the air in the egg
  to expand gradually.  In fact, you can watch some air spiralling out
  in pinpoint bubbles from the pores at the larger end of the shell.
  Its escape elminates the buildup of pressure.
  
  Bring the water to the boil, cover the saucepan, then remove it from
  the heat.  Let the eggs bask in the hot water for 15-20 minutes,
  before cooling them under cold water.
  
  When eggs are cooked at temperatures below the boiling point, they're
  tender.  Eggs that have been boiled are rubbery because their
  proteins have been over-coagulated by temperatures that are too high.
  
  Sometimes the air pocket at the wide end of the egg becomes enlarged,
  giving the solidified white a concave end. This happens because as an
  egg ages, its air pocket grows larger, taking up more space in the
  shell. A dented end results.
  
  You can test an egg for freshness before cooking by submerging it in
  a bowl of water.  The freshest eggs have only a small air pocket and
  sink to the bottom and lie on their sides. Older eggs will stand
  large-end up in the water.  This kind of egg is better for baking
  where its final appearance isn't important.
  
  Often you'll end up with a gouged surface when you try to peel a very
  fresh egg, because the membranes surrounding the white cling tightly
  to the shell. Peeling a fresh egg while it's still warm from cooking
  makes the shell considerably easier to remove.
  
  If hard-cooked eggs are to be stored for several days, however, leave
  the shalls on.
  
  Older eggs that are hard-cooked are easier to peel even when cold,
  because as eggs age, they become more alkaline, which reduces the
  grip between the membranes.
  
  The Inquisitive Cook, The Gazette, June 5th, 1996
  
  Personal observation:  I keep a small tack near the stove to puncture
  the membrane-end of an egg before boiling. It helps when peeling the
  egg and prevents cracking.
  
  Flo Thompson