[from the food network}: Eggs are one of nature's almost perfect foods: the only nutrient they lack is Vitamin C. Aside from the convenience of long storage (they'll keep for a month in a refrigerator), they can be prepared tens, if not hundreds, of ways. Two quick and simple ways are hard- and soft-boiling. When done, hard-boiled eggs have firm, opaque whites and solid, pale lemon-yellow yolks; soft-boiled eggs have lightly congealed, opaque whites, and yolks which are a deeper yellow--almost orange in some cases--and are mostly liquid. How you use your eggs is up to you (and perhaps the subject of another 2torial). From the traditional egg salad and soft-boiled-eggs-on-toast favorites, the varieties are endless. Hard-boiled eggs travel well, and are a great choice for an energizing and nutritious snack for those without much time to eat. Health note: Salmonella is a bacteria that can live in raw eggs. Once ingested, this bacteria produces a nasty, occasionally fatal form of food poisoning, and is best avoided. (So lay off those raw egg drink recipes you've been dreaming of!) Soft-boiled eggs that have no portions of clear egg white remaining are safe to eat, since their temperature rises above the death point of salmonella bacteria: 140 degrees F/ 60 degrees C. To be extra safe, those who have poor health, are very old, or are pregnant, should avoid soft-boiled eggs.
Before you begin The most important detail to observe is the temperature of the eggs. If you've just removed them from a refrigerator, you cook them differently than if the eggs have had a chance to warm up to room temperature. Another detail is the eggs themselves, with size the most obvious consideration. The recipes below list different times according to varying sizes. A final consideration, perhaps less obvious, is the way in which the eggs were produced. In many modern chicken farms, a chicken lives a fairly miserable life: it stays indoors in a warehouse-type of building, in a small wire cage with several other chickens, for virtually all of its life. Some farms, however, only produce eggs laid only by free-range chickens. These are chickens that are free to roam about uncaged, and peck at the ground for food (as their instinct tells them to) and in some cases go outside, walk on grass and dirt and see the sky. And it's certainly possible that a happier chicken could lay a better tasting egg.