Sometimes it's the simplest things that are the most confounding. Last year, right before Easter, I blogged about how to make a perfect hard-boiled egg. Basic? Yes. Popular? Very. This seemingly simple task received tens of thousands of page views.

And, it seemed, almost as many complaints: "But how do you peel them?"

Mea culpa. While my method ensures that hard-boiled eggs are never overdone (at last: the cure for the dreaded copper-green ring!), it also can make them harder to shell, because perfectly cooked eggs turn out to be stickier than ones that have been overcooked.

So this year I determined that I would find the absolutely perfect way to cook hard-boiled eggs you could actually peel. I spent a couple of days researching and cooking several dozen eggs and found that the answer is surprisingly simple.

While overcooking hard-boiled eggs does have its obvious drawbacks - rubbery dry whites and pale crumbly yolks - it actually does make them easier to peel. That's because one of the determining factors in peel-ability is the pH of the egg - the higher (less acid), the easier. And longer cooking raises the pH (so does aging - and older eggs also have a larger air pocket, which helps even more).

But you don't have to choose between easy-to-peel eggs that aren't worth eating and delicious eggs that are as pocked and cratered as the surface of the moon.

Do a little research and you'll find all sorts of solutions, some more fanciful than others: Cool the eggs in an ice water bath. Cook them in salted water. Add baking soda to the water (baking soda is alkaline, so theoretically it could raise the pH).

I settled on four alternatives that seemed to be most promising. I added salt to one batch of eggs and baking soda to another. I transferred another batch to an ice water bath whole, and another I cracked slightly after cooking but before going into the bath.

And just to make sure I wasn't imagining things, I also cooked one batch the original way, trying to crack them straight out of the warm water.

What didn't work? Salting made no difference in peel-ability and didn't affect the flavor, either. Which was actually better than the baking soda, which made no difference in peeling but left the eggs with a noticeable sulfur smell.

The ice water bath turned out to be the key. Eggs chilled while whole seemed slightly easier to peel. But the real winners were the eggs that had been cracked before going into the ice water. They were by far the easiest to peel.

Just drain off the water and roll the eggs around in the dry pan until the shells crack slightly. Then transfer them to an ice water bath.

Actually, unless you're in a hurry, you don't even need to crack them. When I was done with my experiment, I dumped all the remaining unpeeled eggs into the ice water bath while I ate my lunch. When I came back 45 minutes later, they were all easier to peel. The shells are porous, and given enough time, the ice water will seep into the egg, even without the cracking.

Sometimes simple problems really do have simple solutions.

THE PERFECT HARD-BOILED EGG

It's easy to cook eggs that are firm, not rubbery, and yolks that are bright orange and moist.

Perfection is the goal here.

How do you cook a perfect hard-boiled egg? It's really simple. Arrange the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan or deep skillet. Add just enough tap water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook one minute. Remove from the heat and let them stand at least 15 minutes.

Because the water begins to cool as soon as the heat is turned off, the eggs never overcook the way they can if you leave them at a steady simmer. You get eggs with whites that are firm but not rubbery and yolks that are bright orange and moist.

Furthermore, you never wind up with split or cracked eggs. Those problems happen when you add cold eggs to boiling water and are caused by the sudden expansion of the air bubble inside the shell because of the heat. Since eggshells are porous, if you warm the egg slowly that air eases out gently (if you watch closely, you'll see the bubbles).

EASTER'S BOUNTY CAN FEED THE WEEK AHEAD

What do you do with all of those leftover eggs? Cobb salad? Deviled eggs? Too obvious. Here are four ways to cook with hard-boiled eggs that you might not have thought of.

Egg salad with capers and celery: Chop the eggs, add sliced celery, a little minced red onion and drained capers and bind everything with mayonnaise. Garnish with celery leaves.

Sauce gribiche: Don't try to say it; just make it. Combine minced shallots, capers and cornichons. Make a vinaigrette with olive oil and a bit of Dijon mustard and add that. Add chopped hard-boiled egg white and yolk. Sprinkle over chopped fresh herbs: tarragon, parsley, chives, etc. Mix together. Perfect accompaniment for any fatty food.

Asparagus mimosa: Steamed or boiled asparagus never met a better match. Like a stripped-down gribiche: Make a vinaigrette with mixed fresh herbs and add finely chopped hard-cooked egg whites and yolks (chop them separately or the yolks will smear together).

Pan bagnat: Make an egg salad with hard-boiled eggs, chopped anchovies and chopped vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes. Moisten with olive oil and use to fill a crusty roll.

• Read more articles by RUSS PARSONS

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