If I am wanting just one or two, even 3, I will boil them on the stovetop, but if I'm making a dozen or more, then I use Alton Brown's method of baking them in the oven.
I think one of the reasons I like Alton Brown so much is that he turns cooking almost into a crazy scientist kinda thing, he really digs deep into the chemical and science aspects of cooking, and it's fun. My kids enjoy watching him in the kitchen too and learning why things cook a certain way or what happens for the change to take effect.
A couple of years ago, I came across Alton's cookbook "I'm just here for the food". One of the categories was Eggs and among the scrambled and poached and deviled eggs were the baked eggs. Now that was something I had NEVER dreamed of doing, truth be told I'm a hit and miss when it comes to hard boiling eggs.
But this really does work and it helps if you're making a huge amount of eggs, especially around the holidays.
This morning I saw a link on Facebook talking about the baked eggs and I thought "Oh my gosh, I do that too". So here I am, passing Alton's method along to anyone out there that may want to give it a try. And yes I know that you can cook big amounts of eggs on the stove too, this is not a "do it this way instead" post, it's just an added method for boiling/baking the eggs.
Note: Alton says that these are harder to peel, though I haven't had an issue with them, but then again I let them sit in the ice water for a while. Also you will notice that they will have a brown spot where the egg was laying against the rack, that is fine and doesn't affect the taste of the eggs at all. The fresher the eggs the whiter they'll be, I've noticed that if I use eggs that are not fresh, they tend to come out a brownish color.
Alton Brown's Baked Hard Boiled Eggs
2 -4 dozen raw eggs
ice
water
Position the oven racks in the center of the oven.
Place the eggs on the racks. (if they're big, they will sit nicely placed parallel to the bars, if they are smaller then just lay them gently on the bars)
Place a baking sheet pan in the bottom of the oven (just in case an egg breaks).
Set the oven to 325F, and bake for 30 minutes.
When the eggs are done, fill a large bowl with ice water and move the eggs into the bowl.
Peel the eggs as soon as they're cool enough to handle, then return them to the ice water to thoroughly chill.
Funny that he says they are harder to peel, I found them easier, but maybe it's because of the long soak in the ice water like you said. I also had brown spots appear on the shells but they don't affect the inside of the egg.
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