Thursday, November 15, 2007

CrossFit My Kitchen: How to Hard Boil an Egg

Proper nutrition is paramount to athletic performance, post-workout recovery and overall health and longevity. One of the biggest challenges I find is always having quality protein readily available when I'm in a hurry and need nourishment. My solution: Hard Boiled Eggs. Portable. Resilient. Perfect.

WHAT’S IN AN EGG?
Eggs are rich in nutrients and are a very affordable component of a healthy diet. They contain, in varying amounts, almost every essential vitamin and mineral needed by humans as well as several other beneficial food components. In fact, egg protein is of such high quality that it is a standard against which other proteins are compared.

I have heard many clients comment about how they would eat more hard boiled eggs if they weren't such a pain to peel or they didn't smell so bad. Here is a recipe to produce the perfect, non-smelling, easy-to-peel, hard boiled egg. Enjoy!

Things You'll Need: (Recipe is for 12 eggs)

1. 12 Eggs (I use organic, cage free)
2. Large pot and lid (3 or 4 quart)
3. Push Pin
4. Ice



Step 1: Place pot of water on stove under high heat; cover and bring to roaring boil.

Step 2: While water is coming to a boil, puncture one end of each egg with a push pin. (I find leaving the eggs in the carton and puncturing the tops is the easiest way to go about it)



Step 3: Once water boils, gently place eggs in pot and set timer for 12 min; recover pot with lid.

Step 4: Carefully drain water, recover pot with lid; gently shake the eggs in the pot to crack the shells.



Step 5: Dump 1-2 trays of ice over eggs and fill pot with cold water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.



Step 6: Slide egg shells off your perfectly hard boiled eggs. Refrigerate for future use.



Bon Appetit,
Coach Kevin

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why the push pin?
Aneel

Kevin Steinmuller said...

I use the "puncture" method simply because it works. I tried every variation on time and temperature in trying to perfect the hard boiled egg and it was not until I watched Jacques Pepin on PBS that I saw how a master chef hard boils an egg. The problem with leaving the eggs intact is temperature...the reason eggs get sulphury and green is due to a chemical reaction from heat exposure (thus the ice bath). I have never had a green egg since I've adopted this method.

Anonymous said...

As a temporary Brit, I'd like to suggest that you can prepare meat and vegetables in the same way. Just add water and boil! And don't brush your teeth before bed.

Grrrr