Someone help me boil a perfect egg

[snickelfritz]

I have looked and tried several "recipes" to get perfect boiled eggs that peel easily. Today's efforts weren't fully cooked and, after additional time, still won't peel.

 

These eggs are even several days old, which was supposed to be the secret.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[snickelfritz]

Here's how I do it:

 

Put cold eggs (from fridge) in a saucepan of cold water (enough to cover the eggs). Bring to a boil. As soon as the water comes to a rolling boil, set the timer for 10 minutes. (You can dial back the heat a notch or two if water is flinging all over the stove, but keep it rolling). At the ten minute mark, immediately dump the hot water and rinse the eggs in cold water for a couple of minutes, until cool enough to handle.

 

Et viola -- perfect egg :)

 

Ok. Rolling boil. I'll try this one. Thanks.

 

The last recipe (I know...who needs a recipe for boiled eggs?) didn't specify whether it was "start to boil" or "rolling boil."

 

Ok. More eggs from the store.

[meggie]

Here's how I do it:

 

Put cold eggs (from fridge) in a saucepan of cold water (enough to cover the eggs). Bring to a boil. As soon as the water comes to a rolling boil, set the timer for 10 minutes. (You can dial back the heat a notch or two if water is flinging all over the stove, but keep it rolling). At the ten minute mark, immediately dump the hot water and rinse the eggs in cold water for a couple of minutes, until cool enough to handle.

 

Et viola -- perfect egg :)

:iagree: To get them to peel easily, you need to start as soon as possible. The longer they sit, the harder it gets. And btw, I feel your pain. HBE are a pain in my behind.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I always buy 2 dozen eggs and use the older ones to hard boil. Fresh eggs are a pain to peel.

I put the eggs in cold water bring it to a hard boil, shut off the heat and cover for 15 minutes. Cool and peel.

[KungFuPanda]

I have looked and tried several "recipes" to get perfect boiled eggs that peel easily. Today's efforts weren't fully cooked and, after additional time, still won't peel.

 

These eggs are even several days old, which was supposed to be the secret.

 

I bought my daughter this as a gag gift :D

[ma23peas]

Nope, no difference in the age of the eggs, I think someone one day had old eggs and realized how well they peeled, not attributing it to the temperature of the water...

 

The second poster has it spot on...I do not find it necessary to immediately rinse the eggs in cold water...I boil them, turn off the heat and let them sit until I'm ready to peel..it may be 10 minutes it may be 15...but I dump out the boiled water and replace with cool water, then crack them on both ends and find the "hole" the space where you can get a thumb easily in the egg...and start peeling the layers back, when it gets hard to peel an egg I just run hot hot water back over the egg and that helps the egg separate more easily from the lining and the shell....perhaps with older eggs this lining is not as fibrous...but doing them this way I never have a problem with old or young eggs.

[bbkaren]

If they're fresh (i.e. from the chicken) eggs, the time lapse needs to be a couple weeks. The air pocket needs to develop between the egg and the shell and then they'll peel nicely.

 

The reason storebought eggs peel so well is that they're about a month old before they even hit the store shelf.

[In the Rain]

I use a technique similar to the pp. I think it is called coddling eggs. After bringing the water and eggs to a boil, I cover the pot and turn off the heat. After letting them sit in the hot water for 10 minutes, I put the eggs in a bath of ice water for at least 5 minutes. This is supposed to help the membrane shrink back from the shell. Sometimes I'll stick a partially peeled egg back in the ice water. When I try it again, it is a bit easier.

 

I agree about using older eggs. I've also found some brands peel easier than others. I made some today with eggs from Whole Foods and they were really tough to peel. They also feel oddly tight and rubbery, so I'm worried about how they will taste.

[sweetbasil]

I just read a thread about this on Chowhound -- apparently steaming the eggs is the way to go. Everyone raved about how easy the steamed eggs are to peel.

[snickelfritz]

I just read a thread about this on Chowhound -- apparently steaming the eggs is the way to go. Everyone raved about how easy the steamed eggs are to peel.

 

I decided to get wild and crazy. I bought new eggs. I steamed them, instead of boiling.

 

LOVED it. They peeled (warm after having been doused) BEAUTIFULLY. And a nice yellow, instead of green.

 

I followed these instructions:

http://whatscookingwithkids.com/2011/05/27/forget-hard-boiling-eggs-steamed-eggs-are-easy-to-peel/

[sweetbasil]

I decided to get wild and crazy. I bought new eggs. I steamed them, instead of boiling.

 

LOVED it. They peeled (warm after having been doused) BEAUTIFULLY. And a nice yellow, instead of green.

 

I followed these instructions:

http://whatscookingwithkids.com/2011/05/27/forget-hard-boiling-eggs-steamed-eggs-are-easy-to-peel/

 

YAY! I'll have to try it next time too. :)

[bbkaren]

I decided to get wild and crazy. I bought new eggs. I steamed them, instead of boiling.

 

LOVED it. They peeled (warm after having been doused) BEAUTIFULLY. And a nice yellow, instead of green.

 

I followed these instructions:

http://whatscookingwithkids.com/2011/05/27/forget-hard-boiling-eggs-steamed-eggs-are-easy-to-peel/

 

Wow, I'd given up (we have chickens so the eggs are always hard to peel-just not worth the effort).

 

Will give steaming a try, thanks!

[In the Rain]

Hmm, I'll have to try steaming eggs. It would be nice to be able to use fresh eggs instead of old ones.

[Ellie]

My theory is that the kind of cookware you're using makes a difference.

 

I have waterless cookware. Some things you still have to cook in water :D but I say that to point out that my cookware is stainless steel-clad cast iron...very heavy.

 

I tried a number of "recipes", too.

 

So what works for me is to put the eggs in the pan, cover with water, heat until the water just comes to a boil, cover the pan, and turn the heat down to as low as it will go, for 15 minutes. Then I take the pan off the heat and run cold water into the pan, and peel the eggs right away.

[silliness7]

Nope, no difference in the age of the eggs, I think someone one day had old eggs and realized how well they peeled, not attributing it to the temperature of the water...

 

The second poster has it spot on...I do not find it necessary to immediately rinse the eggs in cold water...I boil them, turn off the heat and let them sit until I'm ready to peel..it may be 10 minutes it may be 15...but I dump out the boiled water and replace with cool water, then crack them on both ends and find the "hole" the space where you can get a thumb easily in the egg...and start peeling the layers back, when it gets hard to peel an egg I just run hot hot water back over the egg and that helps the egg separate more easily from the lining and the shell....perhaps with older eggs this lining is not as fibrous...but doing them this way I never have a problem with old or young eggs.

 

Yes. This. I have it on very good authority from someone who used to peel eggs doing salad prep for a restaurant. You need to get water in between the lining and the shell. The specific advice I received was to crack the egg and then put it back in the cold water for a bit (30-60 sec) before peeling. I've always used cold water with great success (in the peeling) so I wonder if the temperature matters seeing that ma23peas uses hot.

 

This is why the cookbooks will say to peel under running water. However, you have to be intentional about running the water *between* the lining and the shell. And why Betty Crocker doesn't just come right out and *say* this is beyong me. If you don't know what you're doing you could have the water just running down the outside of the shell making the method seem no good. I've had great results with the salad chef's way with the soaking in water for a minute. So the water does *not* have to run. If you have A LOT of eggs to peel it's probably more efficient to crack and soak but for one or two running water is faster as you don't have to wait 30 sec.