Perfect Egg Salad

My wife Jan had some surgery on her foot yesterday and so I have been trying to come up with simple meals that don't take too much time, as I am spending quite a bit of my day acting as a caregiver. 

Last night we had some homemade mac and cheese and a Greek salad. Today for lunch, I did some egg salad sandwiches and it got me thinking about what makes a perfect (in my view) egg salad. I guess for people who don't like egg salad nothing makes it perfect, but for those of us who love a good egg salad sandwich, the first key ingredient would be perfect hard boiled eggs. 

For something as simple as boiling an egg, I think I have heard of at least a dozen approaches. After experimenting over the years with different methods, I have settled in on one way which gives me perfectly cooked eggs every time. Start with a medium size pan and fill it with enough very cold water to just cover the eggs.  For this example we will do 6 extra large AA eggs. Place the pan on the stove top over very high heat. Once the water starts to simmer, watch carefully and as soon as the water reaches a rolling boil, remove the pan from the heat and cover.  Let the eggs stand in the hot water for 14 minutes. I have experimented with the time and 14 is the magic number for what I think is a perfect hard boiled egg. Leave in the hot water too long and the yolks start to turn green, Not long enough and you have soft boiled eggs. After 14 minutes, remove the cover and place the pan under cold running water. Let the cold water run over the eggs until the cold water has replaced all of the hot water and the eggs are sitting in cold water. Let them sit for a couple of minutes and then begin to peel the eggs. I like to peel them under cold running water as it helps to remove all of the shell fragments. 

You might wonder why some eggs peel very easily and others seem almost impossible to peel. I recently read a study on this. It seems that the PH of the membrane inside the egg shell is what dictates how the egg peels. The more acidic the membrane the easier the shell comes off. That is probably more than most of us need to know, except that the study did recommend that you add a little vinegar to the water when boiling eggs. This will increase the PH and make the eggs easier to peel. If the shape of the peeled egg is important to you, for example when making deviled eggs, then by all means add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water before boiling. Not really all that important if you are dicing the eggs for egg salad.  Here is how I make egg salad:

Ingredients:

6 Hard boiled eggs- peeled (See above )
About 1 tsp mustard - either Dijon or Yellow
About 1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 tsp Paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

If you have an egg slicer, slice the eggs, then turn the sliced egg 90 degrees and slice again. Place in a small mixing bowl. Then mash pieces with a fork, leaving eggs somewhat chunky. Otherwise just mash the eggs with a fork or a potato masher to the desired consistency.  Add the mustard. Use less if you are not a mustard fan, but it does provide nice color and a bit of a tangy taste to the egg salad. Begin to add the Mayo a little at a time and fold the mixture together. Add Mayo until you like the consistency of the egg salad. Season with the Paprika and salt and pepper. For variety feel free to experiment and add any of the following ingredients: minced onion, minced celery, curry powder, diced olives, capers or even crumbled bacon. Let me know if you come up with any other ingredients that you think work well in the mix.