Guest Chef Anthony Bourdain recommends the following method. We tested his instructions on how to boil eggs from his book Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook. Strategies, recipes, and techniques of classic bistro cooking with Jose de Meirelles and Phillipe Lajaune.
“How to hard-boil a freaking egg”
Step 1. Eggs, Water & Pot
Put your eggs gently into a small pot filled with cold water.

Step 2. Turn up the heat
Bring the water to a rapid boil.

Step 3. Turn off heat and cover
As soon as the water is boiling, shut off the heat and put a lid on top.

Step 4. The 10 minute cook in
After 10 minutes, remove the eggs and slide them carefully into ice water to cool.

Step 5. Cool in an ice bath and enjoy!
When cool? Peel.

Here’s how you know if you’ve done it right: if the egg is cooked thoroughly, the shell peels off cleanly and the yolk is not surrounded by an unsightly gray ring. Gray ring? Try again.
Result
Anthony Bourdain was a chef with personality. The fact that he started this section off with such an expression, “How to hard-boil a freaking egg”, you only have to laugh. For anyone who watched any of his TV shows, you could hear him say those words then start to show you how he creates culinary feasts with delight. These eggs came out as he said they would.
Items we used to test these instructions
The Source
Print Instructions
How To Boil An Egg Step-By-Step Guided By Anthony Bourdain
Equipment
- Pot
- Bowl
- Stove
- Pair of Tongs
Materials
- 6 Each Eggs
- 6 Cups Water
- 8 Each Ice Cubes
Instructions
- Step 1. Eggs, Water & Pot. Put your eggs gently into a small pot filled with cold water.
- Step 2. Turn up the heat. Bring the water to a rapid boil.
- Step 3. Turn off heat and cover. As soon as the water is boiling, shut off the heat and put a lid on top.
- Step 4. The 10 minute cook in. After 10 minutes, remove the eggs and slide them carefully into ice water to cool.
- Step 5. Cool in an ice bath and enjoy! When cool? Peel.
Other Ways To Boil Eggs
Steamed Eggs is another boil egg method that produces a perfect hard boiled egg and it is easy to peel. Visit our page link below, on how to perfectly steam eggs.