I'm a fan of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube because he shows you how to make delicious food and he explains the science and chemistry of cooking while he does it. In his latest video he shows how to cook boiled eggs to minimize the chances of having the shells stick to the eggs when you peel them.
Here's the basic procedure:
- Put a couple of inches of water in a pan and bring to a boil.
- Lower the eggs into the boiling water. Make sure it is boiling because putting eggs in cold water is what makes them stick to the shell when you peel them. It's fine if the eggs come straight from the fridge and are cold.
- Cover the pan and continue to let the water simmer. Six minutes gives you a soft-boiled egg and 12 minutes gives you a hard boiled egg.