Hard-Boiled

The Hard-Boiled Truth

Whether it’s the remnants of Easter or other eggs-acting holiday celebrations, suddenly you are left with an overabundance of hard-boiled eggs.

So, no surprise then that the Monday after Easter is National Egg Sandwich Day. In addition, it kicks off National Egg Salad Week, marking the seven days following the Paschal celebrations. Admit it—a week of hard-boiled eggs in lunch boxes gets tired long before the eggs are gone.

Consequently, there’s the challenge of what creative culinary concoctions can satisfy the hungry hordes at home or at your family or holiday gathering.

Safety First!

Have you been taking it for granted that those hard-boiled beauties are safe to eat? You are not alone. Furthermore, you should think twice about that!

Let’s consider some safety tips.

First, use a food-safe dye. Eggs adorned with paints, resins, and the like should not show up on anyone’s menu. Most retail kits (or the homemade vinegar-and-food-coloring approach) are fine on the surface. However, it’s how most people handle their eggs that makes a difference.

Second, comes the faux pas for most folks. You want the world (or your kids, at least) to admire your artistic masterpieces nestled in a majestic basket? How long those eggs are sitting there waiting for company to arrive matters. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created handy, egg-safety guidelines. Your tax dollars at work!

While it’s true for many foods, the FDA specifically recommends that cooked eggs should not be left unrefrigerated for more than two hours. At room temperature, bacteria begin to grow on eggs after that. Furthermore, the higher the thermometer reaches, the shorter the safety zone for keeping eggs out on display.

However, the solutions are straightforward. Put your dyed eggs back in the fridge right away if you plan on eventually eating them. Should you want to display your creativity, make sure the eggs are sitting on ice while they’re out and about. And if the thought of depriving you and your loved ones of your hard-boiled egg recipes is too much to bear, don’t put all your eggs in one basket—Make extras and keep them in the refrigerator.

Third, make sure you keep it clean! Only eat eggs with uncracked shells and consider where they’ve been before you chow down. Whether scattered around your home waiting to be discovered; hidden among the first blooms of spring in an outdoor egg hunt; or on a festive egg roll across some grassy field, bacteria and viruses are now likely coating the shell. Those nasties can easily be transferred to the incredible, edible part of the egg itself when you peel it.

How To Boil An Egg

There is always a best way of doing everything, if it be to boil an egg.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON
merican essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet
1803—1882
The Conduct of Life

We should also consider a fourth safety tip—Eggs should be fully cooked and hard boiled before they are colored.

In addition, there’s the purely culinary consideration implied by Emerson—Getting it right isn’t a given. Remove the eggs from the pot too early and they’ll be undercooked and soft. Overcook them and the yolk becomes dry, powdery, and an unappealing shade of green.

Browsing the Internet or your collection of cookbooks for help on creating the perfect hard-boiled egg yields lots of advice. The method I’ve found foolproof in my kitchen has four simple steps.

First, create a single layer of eggs in your pot. Make sure the water completely covers the eggs by an inch or so. Cover the pot.

Second, bring the water to a full boil over high heat.

Third, take the pot off the heat once it begins to boil and let it sit for ten to twelve minutes.

Fourth, drain the water and run the eggs under cold water until they’ve cooled.

Once cooled, go ahead and bring on the artwork! Or, if you’re cooking simply for the food, go ahead and peel them or place them in the refrigerator.

Now let’s dig in!

Breakfast the Morning After

I had an excellent repast—the best possible repast—which consisted simply of boiled eggs and bread and butter. It was the quality of these simple ingredients that made the occasion memorable. The eggs were so good that I am ashamed to say how many of them I consumed. … It might seem that an egg which has succeeded in being fresh has done all that can be reasonably expected of it.

HENRY JAMES
American-British author
1843—1916
A Little Tour in France

Sometimes simple is best. But there’s always room for your creative culinary touches!

Sliced eggs on buttered toast too mundane for you? Add chives, salt, and black pepper.

Cutting back on butter? Swap it out with guacamole and, perhaps, add a splash of lime juice and chipotle powder or some siracha.

As is the case with eggs as an historically popular canvas for art, the hard-boiled egg is itself a perfect canvas for whatever flavors and spices sing to your palate. And breakfast is only the beginning!

Hard-Boiled: Recipe Box

In the shell, hard-boiled eggs will last up to one week in the refrigerator. Cooked eggs should be eaten within four days. And if you’re packing them for lunch, use a frozen gel pack, a frozen juice box, or ice to keep the eggs fresh and safe to eat.

As is the case with the breakfast described above, sometimes simple is best

There’s nothing wrong with adding hard-boiled eggs to your favorite green salad. Growing up, our after-Easter dish often just included salt, pepper, onions, olive oil, and vinegar with sliced egg. A sandwich meant mixing the egg with mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and celery.

However, Francine Lizotte’s Club Foody recipe for the Best Egg Salad Sandwich definitely sounds like my kinda meal, elevating that plain repast! Perfect for National Egg Sandwich Day!

Perhaps the other most often hard-boiled delight featured during National Egg Salad Week or at your holiday party is deviled eggs. Whether Frankie’s more traditional Oeufs à la Russe (Russian Deviled Eggs) or The Bikini Chef, Susan Irby’s spicier take on the classic (Wasabi Deviled Eggs with Nori), the only limits you’ll find include your personal palate and your creativity.

Long-Gone Leftovers

You’ve waited too long and now doubt if those leftover hard-boiled eggs are still safe to eat. What to do?

How about Fido? Could you feed them to the pooch? Yes. In fact, eggs are a great addition to a dog’s diet. But if the eggs are truly spoiled and too far gone, they could be unhealthy much as they would be for you or me.

What about leaving the eggs for the local wildlife to enjoy?

Let’s start by reminding everyone that folks from the government and some wildlife organizations might have some issues with this. Your human neighbors might not be too happy, either.

Leaving food out encourages the wild ones to hang around your place. And the same goodies attracting those cute deer and birds, also are open invitations to mice, rats, raccoons, possums, and larger omnivores and carnivores (think coyotes and bears). Several of these, impatient for your generosity, might chose to make themselves at home in your garbage cans and even your house.

Caveats aside, all the aforementioned furry guests can and will gladly munch on the eggs.

A Bad Egg

Composting is another alternative to simply throwing eggs gone bad into the trash.

Some municipalities have programs for public composting. Check to see if your local trash-collection regulations allow for meat, bones, grease, eggs, dairy products, and animal waste. Many do not.

And if you’re into backyard composting, the same issues related to leaving food out for wildlife apply. Animals will sniff them out.

As they decompose, hard-boiled eggs can cause your compost pile to have a uniquely, horrible odor. Because it usually takes between two to four weeks for an egg to decompose, that stench hangs around for a while. The rotting eggs can also attract rodents, flies, and parasites.

Should you or your neighbors have curious canines, make sure they don’t see you simply discarding eggs or other leftovers they might enjoy in the compost heap. Otherwise, they might start digging up snacks there with dire effects for your backyard or their health.

If you’re still intent on composting those eggs, don’t bunch them together. Crush the eggs and mix them in with plenty of other organic waste, such as vegetable trimmings, fruit scraps, and other non-animal kitchen trash; yard and plant clippings; and soil.

Egging You On

Want to go beyond the hard-boiled facts and more fully explore the wonders of the egg? Here are three great books for you to enjoy!

Lisa Steele’s The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook is the perfect introduction to the egg from a fifth-generation poulterer. Host and producer of the award-winning CreateTV show, Welcome to My Farm, Lisa is the person to author this primer on eggs. From practical information on buying, keeping, and cooking eggs to recipes for every meal, this cookbook is ideal for both the culinary newbie and seasoned professional alike.

Egg: A Culinary Exploration of the World’s Most Versatile Ingredient takes the reader on a journey exploring the endless uses for the humble egg in the kitchen. Bestselling author, James Beard award-winner, and culinary visionary, Michael Ruhlman, creates a range of recipes and techniques from the very basic to the more elaborate. A unique flowchart provides an actual roadmap for readers to follow as they explore the egg’s edible possibilities.

Going beyond the stovetop, The Gourmand’s Egg: A Collection of Stories and Recipes, edited by Ananda Pellerin, delves into the history, mythology, art, and cultural significance of the egg. Through a series of original essays, amazing artwork, and memorable recipes The Gourmand’s Egg dishes up both a beautifully illustrated and informative journey.

In short, springtime holidays provide a wonderful excuse for enjoying one of nature’s most enduring gifts. However, any season is a great season for cracking open the recipe box and the pantry when it comes to eggs. Outside the kitchen and in it, the humble egg has nourished both body and soul for millennia. It’s showing no sign to suggest it won’t continue doing so for millennia to come.

This article features quotes from Ian Makay’s Food for Thought: The Pleasures of the Table: Primi Piatti.

How About YOU! 

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