How to Boil Eggs

There are two ways to boil eggs.
The result can be one of the two:

Soft boiled eggs
Hard boiled eggs

Whether you want them soft or hard boiled, the single most important piece of advice is to place the eggs in a pot with cold water.

The cooking time is actually the boiling time, which is counted from the moment the water begins to boil.

The eggs are cooked at maximum temperature, and the pot shouldn't be covered.

Soft boiled eggs

Boiling time: 3-4 minutes
Boiled at 3 minutes the egg will be very soft, almost runny.
Boiled at 4 minutes, the egg will be soft.

Hard boiled eggs

Boiling time: 6 minutes
Eggs shouldn't be boiled for longer than 7 minutes. They get increasingly dry the longer they cook.

How to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Take the entire pot with the water and eggs, place them in the kitchen sink and run cold tap water on top of it. You can carefully drain a bit of the hot water beforehand. Cool the eggs this way for about 1 minute, then turn the water off, and leave them in the pot with cold water for about 2 more minutes.
Carefully take out the eggs, one at a time, and dry them off with a kitchen towel. Tap each egg, top and bottom, on a hard surface (kitchen counter) and peel it.

With a little practise you will be able to peel an egg in about 10-15 seconds this way, without any tricks or additional ingredients.