everyone has been lying to me about eggs

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When I was a kid, my parents told me the story of our friend's daughter who set out to make herself a hard-boiled egg for dinner by putting the egg in the freezer. "Boiled, duh," my dad said. I would never have made that mistake, even at age 10, but hard boiled eggs have remained somewhat of a mystery to me. Sometimes the shell slips off, sometimes it doesn't. Everyone has tricks: put eggs in water before it boils. Turn heat off and let sit for 20 minutes. Old eggs won't work. The water to egg ratio is critical.

Everyone has been lying to me and I finally figured it out. Making hard boiled eggs in which the shell easily slides off is actually not that hard. I've done it three times with this method that I found in The Silver Spoon (love this book) and it's worked every time.

Fill pot with salted water (it helps soften the shells) and when it boils, slip in your eggs. Boil for 10 minutes then remove eggs and cool in cold water/ice bath. Peel under running water.