Hard-cooked eggs simmered in a tiny amount of water just until the yolks are golden and the whites firm but tender. Sheryl Julian I eat eggs for breakfast every day of my life. They’re always exactly the same: hard-boiled (though many prefer to call it “hard-cooked” because hard-boil suggest toughness), with bright yellow yolks, no trace of gray around the edges, and tender whites. It’s not rocket science to make a decent egg but sometimes I see awful-looking eggs on a platter and wonder how someone got them so wrong. My eggs are the best quality I can find from hens that roamed the farmyard. Over the years I’ve tried a bunch of methods. Nothing crazy like doing all the tests at once. Just sticking to a technique for a while, then moving to another one. For a long time, I plunged the eggs into a large pan of simmering water, covered the pan, set the timer for 10 minutes, and transferred the cooked eggs to a bowl of cold water. (Do you know that if you use the handle of a wooden spoon and stir the boiling water during the first minute of cooking, you’ll center the yolks? Might be useful the next time you devil eggs.) Then I found a flat silicone steamer basket that fits snugly into a favorite saucepan and I started steaming everything; all the nightly vegetables that might go into a roasting pan afterward but needed a head start, potatoes for smashing, and more. I steamed eggs using the exact instructions as the simmering water, except this time the water came up to the level of the steamer, so the eggs were sitting above the water. Excellent results without having to wait for a whole pan to come to a boil. Advertisement Finally, the system I use now, which even food geeks aren’t talking about. Let’s call it the “low-water steam method.” I cook the eggs in a half-inch of boiling water. Really it’s all the water you need, and a steamer insert isn’t necessary. Instructions: Bring half-an-inch of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the eggs. Cover the pan. Set the timer for 10 minutes. Lift the eggs out and transfer them to a bowl of cold water. Quickly, using the back of a spoon, crack the shell on the large end and peel off an inch. Let the cold tap run into the bowl until the eggs are cool. Advertisement Peel, pat dry with paper towels, and pull off the thin, filmy membrane on the large end. Cut that little beauty in half. I promise you, you’ll smile at your handiwork. This method is so pared down, so utterly simple, that there cannot be anything new about it. I imagine grandmothers around the world — long before I decided that my silicone steamer didn’t have to be the kitchen workhorse at breakfast, lunch, and dinner — figuring it out, maybe to conserve water or shorten the process by a few steps. There are all kinds of hard-boiled egg tidbits people will tell you about. One is that you can’t peel fresh eggs. Well, I do that all the time. I think the eggs that are hard to peel were roaming the farmyard an hour before you decided to cook them. Another: Experts say you need to plunge the cooked eggs into an ice bath. Undoubtedly they all have ice makers. I do not. Cold tap water is fine, but you do need to crack the shell so the hot water that’s trapped between the white and the shell cools down quickly. Finally a little tip about storing cooked eggs. Line a container with a paper towel, add the eggs, and cover with another paper towel, sort of like making a bed. Eggs release water as they sit and if you don’t have something to absorb it they’ll sit in a little puddle. You probably won’t need to store them. You’ll be eating them immediately, warm, sprinkled with a little salt, toast on the side. Advertisement