outer white, a milky inner white, and a warm
yolk, and are spooned from the shell. The less
familiar mollet eggs (from the French molle,
“soft”), cooked for 5 or 6 minutes, have a
semi-liquid yolk but a sufficiently firm outer
white that they can be peeled and served
whole.
Hard-cooked eggs are firm throughout
after cooking for 10 to 15 minutes. At 10
minutes the yolk is still dark yellow, moist,
and somewhat pasty; at 15, it’s light yellow,
dry, and granular. Hard-cooking is sometimes
prolonged for hours to heighten color and
flavor (p. 89). Chinese tea eggs, for example,
are simmered until set, then gently cracked,
and simmered for another hour or two in a
mixture of tea, salt, sugar, and flavorings to
produce a marbled, aromatic, very firm white.
Hard-Cooked Eggs A properly prepared
hard-cooked egg is solid but tender, not
rubbery; its shell intact and easy to peel; its