There is an old saying, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." And so when my daughter Amy told me the way to cook a perfect hard boiled egg; I did what any mother would do, I laughed. Why? Amy is not known for her love of the kitchen. Love of food yes! Cooking said food, not so much. To add insult to injury her sister quipped, "Did you really just tell mom how to cook an egg?"
I am a chef, by profession. The irony hit us all then and we enjoyed a good laugh at Amy's expense. In my years working with a vast variety of food service personal I have learned to keep an open mind. My way is not always the best. With that mindset I decided to give Amy's technique a try. Amy multitasks and so keeping her eye on or time boiling eggs does not work. Her solution, when they start to boil turn off the flame and let them be.
While preparing dinner the other evening I placed six raw eggs in a pan of water and turned on the flame. Going about my prep work I caught a glimpse of boiling water and turned off the flame under the eggs. Then I basically forgot about them.
After dinner I returned to the kitchen and began to clean up. I drained the cool water from the egg pan and peeled the eggs to make sure they were hard, indicating they were cooked. Then, using a little cold water I peeled the eggs, easily. I cut one of the eggs in half to discover a bright yellow yolk peering up at me like a burst of sunshine. There is no better gift, from a mother to a child, than to say, "You were right Amy, the eggs turned out perfect!"I am EGGcited to say "You can teach old dogs new tricks."
