How many times have you heard this reply to the question, "Can you cook?"— "I can’t boil an egg."

That reply could well include many who believe they do know how to cook. Cooking the perfect hard-boiled egg takes a little more know-how than one thinks, although preparing hard-boiled eggs is a frequent practice in most households. According to the American Egg Board, roughly 75 billion eggs are produced in the Untied States each year. Of those, 60% are used directly by consumers.

Many claim to have the perfect hard-boiled egg recipe and every one believes his or her own to be the best, but all methods of boiling an egg have two things in common. 1: Don’t use fresh eggs, they are difficult to peel. 2: If eggs are kept in a refrigerator for several days before hard boiling, peeling becomes much easier. The complete cooling of cooked eggs in ice water also makes for easier peeling.

The first step in boiling an egg is to choose a pan that will h...