Hard cooking egg tips

Yield: 1 servings

Measure Ingredient
\N \N Hard cooking eggs sounds like a simple task, but it is one that brings
\N \N Us lots of calls this time of the year. Here are some tips for best
\N quart Hard cooked eggs.

Place the eggs, one layer deep, in a large pan and add cold water to reach 1 inch above the eggs. Cover the pan and bring the water to a boil quickly over medium high heat. As soon as the boiling point is reached, turn the heat source to low and let the pan stand, covered, on the heat source for 20 minutes. Once the eggs are cooked, they should be cooled down quickly under cold running water, then put in ice water for 10 minutes. After that, place them in an uncovered bowl in the fridge for short term storage, not more than 5 days for optimum quality. Be sure to refrigerate the eggs as much as possible between cooking, decorationg, hunting, or displaying. If some eggs crack during the cooking process, they should be used the same day.

Bacteria could enter the eggs through the cracked shells, causing spoilage. Do not try to hard cook already cracked eggs. Cracked eggs should be thrown out. If the hard cooked eggs are to be eaten, they should not be left at room temperature more than two hours. This timing hold true as well for eggs that go into Easter baskets or are part of an egg hunt. If you attend an egg hunt where you don't know how the eggs have been cooked, it is better to throw them away rather than risk getting sick. Eggs can be dyed with food coloring or a commercial egg dying kit. To dye with food coloring, add 1 tsp vinegar and 20 drops of coloring to a half cup of hot water. Dip hard cooked eggs until desired shade is reached. To achieve different shades, the food coloring can be mixed. Eggs dyed with food coloring will be more intense in color than those dipped in the commercial dye. While uncooked eggs will keep up to three weeks in their carton under refrigeration, hard cooked eggs will keep only a short time because the egg's protective coating has been removed during cooking.

To remove shell froma hard cooked egg, crackle it by tapping gently all over. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell, then peel, starting at the large end. Hold egg under running cold water or dip in bowl of water to help ease off shell. Shelled hard cooked eggs may be marinated in pickled beet juice to produce a red purple color. Store in refrigerator until serving time, then cut into wedges. Origin: Journal American, March 24, 1993 Shared by: Sharon Stevens Submitted By SHARON STEVENS On 10-18-94

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