HOW DO YOU GET THE YOLK IN THE CENTER OF A HARD BOILED EGG? and other Easter egg tips!

   There are two holidays with crafty traditions that appeal to the artistic types like myself. Pumpkin carving at Halloween time and Easter egg dying at Easter time. I have always had a fascination with creating beautiful little gems that ultimately end up peeled and chopped in to egg salad but it really is about the process to me. I was so over little fizzy tablets with vinegar water in coffee cups by the age of 10 and now dying them using different techniques has become a deeply intrenched tradition in our house! Oh, don't throw those egg dye kits away just yet! We will come back to those a little later!

These are done using my favorite technique. Silk dying! Aren't they amazing!

   Every year, we buy our 2 or 3 dozen eggs and get to boiling them in preparation for coloring. There are two things that I always found to be frustrating in the hard boiling of eggs, especially if they will later be turned into beautiful Deviled or Picnic Eggs. It is so frustrating when, no matter how gently you place the egg in the boiling water (even if you put the eggs in warm water and then bring it up to a boil), the egg still pops open leaving foamy little blobs of egg white floating in with your now severely cracked eggs.
    Maybe you get your eggs through the boiling process intact so you cool them color them and they bring you great joy on Easter morning. The times comes for you to make your Deviled Eggs for the Easter Sunday picnic. You peel away the colorful shell that you worked so hard creating, and cut your egg in half and there you have it, an egg with the yolk pressed so far up to the edge of the egg that the white tears when the yolk is removed. So much for that egg!
 

Fear not. these are easy problems to solve. First let's address the egg that cracks when boiled. All you need to solve this problem is a clean push pin. Prior to placing the egg in the pot, poke a small whole in the WIDE end of the egg with a push pin. Use tongs to place the egg in the pot so that you aren't tempted to drop it. I will say that MOST of your eggs will remain intact while boiling if you use this technique.

 
 Now, how do you get that yolk in the center? This is easy too! Once you place your egg into the water, give it a gentle roll back and forth in the water. This will spin the yolk in to the center of the white every time.
   Now all you need to do is boil your egg for 5 minutes at a rolling boil, then immediately dump the hot  water out and fill pot with cold water. You will want to repeat this several times. Then, once you can handle them, pour off the water and let cool completely. If you leave the eggs in water for too long, you will have that unappealing green ring around the edge of the yolk.
   

Here is my last little tip. I'm sure you have had that egg from time to time that just simply won't come out of the shell cleanly so that you end up with an egg that looks like it was picked at by squirrels, right? Although there is no guarantee that you won't run in to them every so often no matter what, your odds of this annoying outcome are greatly reduced by avoiding one simple thing. The fresher the egg, the greater the chance that it will not come out of the shell easily. That doesn't mean use spoiled eggs. It simply means buy your eggs about a week in advance and keep them refrigerated until your ready to cook off. Bringing them up to room temperature prior to boiling helps too.
   

   I'll say it. I LOVE deviled eggs but I am pretty fussy about how they are made. I don't use too much mayonnaise and that mayo must be Hellmans. I add a small amount of yellow mustard. For years, I had made them with brown mustard because that's what we use for everything else and they never were right so it must be yellow mustard. Dust them with a pinch of Paprika. Usually that's it. I am a deviled egg purest but recently I discovered that putting a drop or two of your favorite hot sauce on top is shear GENIUS!
    And just when you thought they couldn't be any better, you have got to try this. Remember the vinegar water coffee cups with fizzy tablets that I told you to hold on to? Here's where they come in ( if you'd rather, use the same water to vinegar ratio and add a couple of drops of regular old food coloring. It works just as well and you can control the colors a bit more easily.) Peel your Easter eggs and slice in half. Remove the yolks and put aside. Place the whites into the egg dye. The longer they, the more vibrant they'll be. They look absolutely beautiful when they are done!

 
 
     Happy dying!!!! And don't forget to visit us at utensilscookingschool.com for a full list of class schedules which also includes an unconventional egg dying class on April 18th. It will be great fun for kids and adults!

     Find and like us on facebook to see pics from class, find great tips, and sign up for classes!