Nigella Lawson's Tip For Symmetrical Deviled Eggs

If you've ever boiled up a pot of eggs, then you likely know that hard boiling isn't as straightforward as it seems: In order to get a fully cooked white and a tender yolk that's neither too runny nor too hard, you have to employ a few tricks such as bringing the eggs to room temperature before boiling them and shocking them in an ice bath afterward, as Simply Recipes points out.

But, once you've got the perfect hard-boiled egg down, classic dishes such as egg salad and deviled eggs are deliciously within reach. Deviled eggs — for those who haven't been to an Easter dinner lately — are simply halved hard-boiled eggs whose yolks are scooped out, mashed together with mayonnaise and other flavorings, and either spooned or piped back into the little depression in the egg white half. They make a great party appetizer or potluck contribution, but sometimes, when boiling eggs for deviled eggs, the yolk comes out not centered prettily in the middle of the white, but rather off to the wider end of the egg, making for a less attractive presentation. But, if there's anyone who can solve that quandary, it's Nigella Lawson, and she's got a tip for boiling up eggs whose yolk is perfectly centered.

If you enjoy food television, you're likely familiar with Nigella Lawson, the British "Domestic Goddess" known for cooking shows  such as "Nigella Feasts" as well as cookbooks including "Nigella Bites." True to her moniker, Lawson is a repository for handy tips and tricks that make time spent in the kitchen easier and more likely to impress. From reserving potato cooking water to use as the base for an extra-flavorful pea soup to hacking a "rice cooker" by placing a tea towel over just-cooked rice in order to let it steam to fluffy perfection (via Chatelaine), Lawson seems always to think of the things we wish we had. And, her trick for boiling eggs whose yolk is centered horizontally in the middle of the white — instead of off to the wider end of the white — is one we're going to give a shot the next time we prepare a platter of deviled eggs.

As she wrote on her website when making deviled eggs, Lawson gets started the night before by placing the eggs she'll use on their sides in a dish out of the fridge. As opposed to when they're stored upright in their egg cartons, this maneuver, Lawson says, helps the yolk stay centered when it's boiled, which makes for a more attractive deviled egg. "It's not a fail-safe guarantee," she notes, "but it does seem to make a difference."