How to Make Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs
By Terri Milligan
The perfect hard-boiled egg starts with the perfect fresh egg. Check the "use by'' date on those eggs in your fridge. Why use the freshest eggs, you ask? Because as eggs age, their alkaline content increases. The more alkaline the white, the more quickly the sulfur in the white will react with the iron in the yolk. This reaction creates a green rim around the cooked yolks. You won't have an unusable hard-boiled egg. It just won't be the "perfect" hard-boiled egg!
Place the eggs in a pot and fill with cold water. The water should come about 1 inch above the eggs. Bring the pot to a boil. Boil the eggs for 3 minutes then turn off the heat, cover the pot, and set your kitchen timer for 12 minutes.
After 12 minutes, Carefully transfer the eggs to a strainer and rinse them under cool water for several minutes. Lightly crack the egg shells on a kitchen counter. I like to place the eggs under a thin stream of cold water as I remove the egg shell to make sure no small pieces of shells are left behind.