Watched water never boils

Ok, we actually don't want it to boil, but to simmer.

Off to boil the eggs for dyeing. Every year I always fret over boiling them too little, too much or cracking eggs, so this year I got smart and read up on a cooking site to make sure I was doing it right.

How do you boil eggs? The answer to this is carefully. What we need to do first of all is memorize a few very important rules. Don't ever boil eggs that have come straight from the refrigerator, because very cold eggs plunged straight into hot water are likely to crack. Always use a kitchen timer – trying to guess the timing or even remembering to look at your watch can be hazardous. Never over-boil eggs (you won't if you have a timer) – this is the cardinal sin because the yolks will turn black and the texture will be like rubber. If the eggs are very fresh (less than four days old), allow an extra 30 seconds on each timing.
Always use a small saucepan – eggs with too much space to career about and crash into one another while they cook are likely to crack. Never have the water fast boiling; a gentle simmer is all they need. Remember that eggs have a pocket at their wide end where air collects and, during the boiling, pressure can build up and cause cracking. A simple way to deal with this is to make a pinprick in the rounded end of the shell, which will allow the steam to escape.

Fort hard-boiled eggs place the eggs in a saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them by about 1/2 inch (1 cm). Bring the water up to simmering point, put a timer on for 6 minutes if you like a bit of squidgy in the centre, 7 minutes if you want them cooked through. Then, the most important part is to cool them rapidly under cold running water. Let the cold tap run over them for about 1 minute, then leave them in cold water till they're cool enough to handle – about 2 minutes.

Now, I'm off to boil the eggs.