Nowadays all I get is AI slop articles about “other ways to cook eggs”.
EDIT: Managed to solve this issue, and I like the way the comment section has gone nuts.
So you are interested in how to peel a hard boiled egg? Let me tell you first about the history of the egg and its impact on society…
Can you also include a few paragraphs about how your grandma used to cook this for you on special nights and how they mean home to you?
with your mouth, silly.
roll it around your tongue to smash the shell up but not break the egg inside. then, suck all the shells down and pop out the freshly washed egg.
this is the way my family has done it for generations. we used to play a game where we would swap the eggs out from person to person and whoever had the clean egg by the end was the winner.
Make sure you get under the membrane, not the shell. Its super easy after that.
My boyfriend has this trick where he pokes a hole on the top, a hole in the bottom, and then he blows and the egg just falls out.
Never managed to pull it off, I just claw at it until it’s done.
Everyone has their specific method, personally I tap the top and bottom on the counter, then roll it on the counter with a little bit of pressure. For me, this let’s the shell get all cracked up but still stick to the membrane and peels off super easily… It worked well enough that my wife asked me why I never mention it for the first decade of our marriage, I thought everyone knew and just did it their own way.
Paper towel on a hard surface, drop egg to crack shell, roll it under your hand until it’s all crackled, then pick out a piece that lifts the membrane and peel it off like skin.
Give it a rinse after to remove any particulate. Humans really shouldn’t be eating the shells in chunks as it can get caught in appendix if you have one.
Cook a fresh one. Older ones are impossible to peel, the membrane get’s glued to the white.
I’ve also noticed that if I let them cool for very long, it also gets harder to peel.
From working in commercial kitchens where Id do 50-100+ for breakfast every day:
first boil them, add a bit of white vinegar to loosen the shells. At that scale, i was also able to ‘age’ the eggs a bit, which helps a lot. (i ordered and set aside eggs to they spent 10-14 days in the walk in before boiling)
then straight into an ice bath. The temperature shock will contract the whites away from the membrane a little. (This also helps prevent carryover cooking)
Then, fish the eggs out, roll them along a hard surface to crack a band around the middle/ widest diameter, then into a second cool, but not freezing bucket of water with a cloth, and use the cloth underwater to gently peel the shells away, with a spoon handy for prying off more stubborn pieces that get stuck, or pushed into the whites a little.
If everything worked out, for most of the eggs, you should be able to sort of twist and pull off the mostly intact top and bottom hemisphere of shell, with the rag, and then gently brush away the cracked middle section.
My experience has been the older the eggs, the harder they are to peel. I think some of the liquid around the membrane dries out or something.
Bend over and I’ll show you.
This is partially because 90% of the time the cook determines how an egg will peel. The other 10% are eggs that are too fresh and no matter what the shell would stick.
But I am the cook
Press it on the counter then roll it while pressing. Like a rolling pin. It creates lots of cracks. Then do the water thing.
With a teaspoon. Gently crack the shell, then pull off a small bit so the spoon fits then run the spoon between the shell and egg. Works perfectly for me, but works best if they’re freshly cooked.
Peeling can be easy or difficult in part due to the cooking method. Here’s a good write up on tests of various cooking methods to make easier peeling hard boiled eggs: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs
I use Kenji’s method as well and it’s never once failed. Here’s a video 'splanation in case that suits you better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IeKQSW1LX8
It is a good write up, but I have a 90+% success rate of easy peeling starting with cold water on an electric stove and then putting them in an ice bath.
Water from the tap, put eggs in and set to high. When it starts a rolling boil turn off the heat and put the lid on, start a timer, but don’t move the pot. This will cause it to continue boiling for a a few more minutes.
At 11 minutes after putting the lid on I run cold water into the pot to bring down the water temp so I can fish out the eggs. When tolerable I put them in an ice bath and leave them there for about 10 minute or so. When doing it this way I only get one or maybe two in a dozen that is hard to peel by just hitting it on a firm surface and then using fingers to pull shell off sideways.
I had much worse results before the ice bath, and I didn’t change anything else.
You’d probably have 100% success rate if you put eggs in when the water is boiling. And pour the hot water out before pouring cold water in, for a better cold shock. This certainly improved things for me.
If I had a wire basket to transition thr eggs into boiling and from boiling to ice I would, just haven’t gotten around to getting one.
Eh, I do without any such thing: gently chucking the eggs in by hand one by one, and afterwards just pouring out the water while holding the pot to the edge of the sink to keep the eggs in. Though once in a while fancy takes me and I use a big serving spoon to lower the eggs.
Funny, that’s exactly how I used to do it. And I still do if I want cool eggs sooner.
Our eggs may be different (US here, working from refrigerated washed eggs) or I am less lucky. I had mostly success, but sometimes had troublesome eggs and would have a few mangy looking ones where the white sticks to the inside of the shell and water doesn’t change it. Chunks of white pull away. After switching to the Kenji method I have more success than before. Still once in a while I get a stuck shell, but less often.
My best results come from:
- Bring your water to a boil. Before or after it starts boiling, add a disgusting amount of baking soda. The alkalinity will help weaken the shell membrane, so that they peel like much older eggs
- As your boiling time comes to an end, prepare a bowl of salty ice water. The salt is to lower the freezing point so that the ice cubes cool the water to perfect shocking levels
- As soon as your egg is cooked, quickly and SAFELY move it from the hot water to the ice bath. Let the egg hang out for a bit. People often enjoy chilled hard boiled eggs, so every bit of time the egg chills gets to closer to enjoying the fruits of your labor
- Crack the shell a little bit and then run the egg under cold tap water while you gently peel the shell away using your fingerTIPS, not nails
- When the water hits at the right angle, it should practically peel the egg for you, right under your fingers.
Your water for boiling can be reused for cooking beans, the baking soda will help break down the various gas-causing sugars, and cellulose. Don’t fully cook them in this water, they’ll taste bad. This is simply a trick so that you can soak your beans for 45 minutes or so instead of overnight.
The salt bath can be used to start a brine, or to cook pasta.
For starters, eggs should be put in already boiling water, as opposed to heating up the eggs and the water together. Otherwise the egg sticks to the white. If you have problems with eggs cracking while boiling, use a needle or a knife to poke a hole in the shell in the end that is the least pointy so that the air bubble inside has an escape.
I usually drop it in the table and roll it around just to get the entire shell to Crack. Then it should come off easily.
I was told to steam my eggs at some point because the temp of the water won’t drop from the cold eggs. They’ve always peeled well cooking them this way.
True. I can’t be arsed, but dedicated egg cookers do this for that reason.
I don’t really understand people getting out an unnecessary utensil to crack the egg. Put the pot you cooked it in in the sink and run cod water on it. Then just knock it against the inside of the pot to crack it. If you like the roll technique, roll it against the pan. Do this in the water; some believe cracking it underwater helps the shell release, tho honestly I’m not sure about that part.
Guess I need to go find some cod water now
If you have an actual cod you can save a step by just slapping the egg with the fish directly.
Found the fivehead
Just watch out for the zombie mode.
It definitely helps. I like soft and medium boiled eggs, which are super hard to peel, and eventually found that peeling then under water helps a lot.
