Then, the most important part is to cool them rapidly under cold running water. As soon as they are cooked drain off the hot water. The method is as follows: place the eggs into a saucepan that is the right size so that they sit comfortably and don’t crash into one another (and as an extra precaution, to prevent cracking you can prick the round end of the shell with a pin) and then add enough cold water to cover them by about 1cm.īring the water up to boiling point then turn to a simmer, put a timer on for 6 minutes if you like a bit of squidgy in the centre, 7 minutes if you like them cooked through. All well and good, but if you want to use hard-boiled eggs in a recipe and have to peel them, this can be extremely tricky if the eggs are too fresh. Some people hate soft-boiled eggs and like to eat them straight from the shell, hard-boiled.