how do you cook a hard boiled egg?

[maggie2]

I know, it seems fairly obvious, but how exactly do you time it and everything?  I've seen several different instructions.  They basically say to bring the eggs to a boil, and then reduce heat and begin timing for 10 or 15 minutes.  "time carefully" they say, or the yolks will turn green   Okay, considering the fact that I still haven't found the exact "moment" when water begins to boil (it seems to me like a bit more of a process then an exact "moment"), I'm having a hard time decifering when to begin the timer.

So in addition to the yolks having the green bit around the outside, I've also had them be rubbery in the center - anyone else have this problem?  Is the rubbery part because I'm cooking them for too long, or over too low a flame?

Thanks for the help!! 
Maggie

[knackered]

I've just looked at what Delia Smith has to say about the subject. Firstly she says that eggs should be at room temperature, the water for boiling should not be boiling too fast, just barely simmering. And for perfect hard boiled eggs... 'Place the eggs in a saucepan of cold water, bring them up to a gentle simmer and simmer for exactly 7 mins for size 4 eggs or 9 mins for size 2 eggs. ALWAYS (her empahasis) cool them under cold running water to prevent them cooking further or developing a dark ring between the yolk and the white'.

So there you have it. Don't know if you're familiar with Delia Smith - if you're English you will, if you're from anywhere else you've probably never heard of her - but she did a cookery TV programme called How to Cook about 5 years ago and the first episode was on eggs and the whole of Britain sold out of eggs!! So I'd take her word for it!!

Hope that helps!

Anna

[maggie2]

Thank you Anna!

It sounds as though I was cooking them for too long.  I'll have to find out a bit more about Delia Smith - I've never heard of her (I live in the US).

Thanks again!
maggie