BALANCE & MODERATION
This recipe is certainly silly. It says to separate the eggs, but it doesn’t say how far to separate them. ~Gracie Allen (1895-1964)
SIZE MATTERS TERRIBLY
Did anyone see The Ellen Show yesterday? She did a riff on Starbucks’ sizes, with their new 30-oz cup. This would be just hilarious – as Ellen so often is – if it weren’t such an accurate, and pathetic, barometer of how far off the mark we are regarding portion size.
McDonald’s discontinued SuperSizing after the movie of the same name pointed out the obvious flaws in that concept. Corporations really should not endeavor to kill their customers.
Balance and moderation, call your office! The terms seem to have fallen out of favor in the 21st Century. As death rates spiral steadily upwards — earlier every generation — and health costs are out of control is there anyone alive who hasn’t gotten the memo that we are consuming too much on a regular basis? Stop this madness!
NOW SOMETHING POSITIVE
Yesterday I wrote about healthy lunches to take to school. Hard-Cooked Eggs, to eat solo or to make into egg salad, are just two more suggestions. Not difficult by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m going to give you the low-down on how to make a good one. You’ll be able to pack a lunch or a picnic in your sleep.
Also known as hard-boiled, it’s best to simmer the eggs rather than boil them, actually. Boiling eggs until hard will cause the outer layer of the yolk to turn green. Not an pretty, emerald green, but a pea-soupy, unappetizing looking green.
Age works in your favor here. Best results come from using eggs that are a little less than the freshest, making them easier to peel. If you’ve ever tried to separate a tight eggshell from the white, picking off the tiny bits, it was probably caused by eggs being too fresh. Use eggs for hard-cooking that you’ve purchased a week prior. In addition, the fresher the egg, the greater the chance that the shell will crack during simmering. On the other hand, if an egg floats, that is a clue that it’s too old. Eggs have to be really old to float.
Adding a little salt to the water will decrease the likelihood of cracking while boiling. Add a spoonful of vinegar to water. If there is a little crack in the shell, I’m told the vinegar will prevent the egg white from leaking out.
If the shell does crack, the whites will trail out, looking unsightly and feeling rubbery. Don’t throw them out, however, they can be used for egg salad. Just discard the rubbery bits. Also, if you are poaching an egg and overcook it, just make a new one. Put the overcooked egg in the refrigerator until later for making egg salad.
Select a saucepan large enough to cover however many eggs you are cooking, but do not cook more eggs than can comfortably sit on their sides in one layer in the pan with a little room to stir. If your pan is too small for the number of eggs you are cooking (deviled eggs for a party, perhaps?) use two pans.
Add a teaspoon of salt and hot tap water to cover. Stir the water to dissolve the salt, cover and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils, give the eggs a gentle stir to turn them around. Turn down the heat and simmer for seven minutes OR turn off heat and let sit for 15 minutes.
Lift eggs out of the hot water with a spoon and place in a bowl filled with cold water to stop the cooking. When cool (about 10 minutes, or when ice cubes put into water in bowl stop melting), remove eggs and shake off water. With a pencil, place an H on the shell to distinguish the hard-cooked from the raw eggs. Store hard-cooked eggs in the refrigerator; don’t peel until ready to eat.
