WAY OT- Boiled Eggs

[rws]

I have heard many ways to properly boil eggs. Some eggs peal easy, some stick like crazy and make a mess. My wife told me not to use fresh eggs, only older eggs. We have our own chickens, and I keep them rotated per age. I can't see much difference in age to make pealing easy. I have boiled them right from the frig, let them come up to room temp, heated them at full heat, or bring them to a boil slowly. Nothing has been definitive. I bring them to boil and then let them slowly boil for 10 minutes, then cool them down quickly with color faucet water then put ice on them to cool further.

What has worked for you here?

[brian Rupnow]

Bring water to rolling boil before you set the eggs in it. Add a dash of salt to the boiling water. Use a tablespoon (not a small teaspoon) to lower the eggs into the water. Boil for 5 minutes. Carefully dump hot water down sink and fill pot with cold water from tap. Use the same large tablespoon to crack around circumference of egg. Keeping egg wet, slide teaspoon up under shell and gently rotate it. The thermal shock of going from boiling water to cold water will make the shell come off in two halves very easily, with the help of the spoon. Why put salt in the water?--If an eggshell cracks while the egg is still runny, the salt will make it solidify before it all runs out of the shell into the water.

[JRouche]

My wife told me not to use fresh eggs, only older eggs. We have our own chickens, and I keep them rotated per age.

Not sure how long your fresh eggs (Im jealous) age to be concidered old. I suspect they are still very fresh at that point.

I have to get my eggs from a store, so maybe 1 week old?? Dunno. Then I let them age for two weeks in the frig.

I do 2 dozen at a time and they peel fine. Same eggs not aged in frig are hit and miss re: peeling. Some wont peel at all. JR

[wombat2go]

In Australia, boiled eggs would often crack during cooking and blow out the white stuff.
We had all sorts of ways to avoid it, slow cooking seemed the best.

But here in USA, I rarely have an egg crack when boiling.
I take them out of the fridge, and boil them from cold water at full flame, and let them sit for 2 minutes after the boil starts.

What is wrong with the Australian "Chooks" ?

[Forrest Addy]

Hoo, boy. Another recipe war: hard boiled eggs edition. Cold eggs, worm eggs, sated water. Vinegar. Cold water start, warm water start, boiling water start. Fresh eggs. Two day old eggs. Week old eggs. Fertile eggs. Brown eggs. Banty eggs. Free-run chicken eggs. etc etc etc

Recipes for hard boiled eggs might have inspired the plot conflict in Swift's depiction of Liliput.

[Forrest Addy]

I\...

What is wrong with the Australian "Chooks" ?

The chalaze is twisted on the wrong hand?

[lynnl]

I just put them in a pan, then fill the pan with enough water to cover the eggs, or about so, since they tend to float.
THEN I turn on the heat and bring them to a boil, then turn heat down to a gentle boil, for a total boil time of 10 to 15 minutes.
Then pour out the hot water and run cold tap water into the pan and leave for a minute or so until I can comfortably handle them. Then set aside for a minute or two until the shell dries. Tap the big end on the counter to break, then peel away. Works EVERY TIME!

My wife will turn off the heat completely once boiling is reached, and then just cover the pan and let them set for 10 or 12 minutes. Only difference I notice is that her yolks will be a little softer. AND, I think she occasionally has a peeling problem.

If they're allowed to set a day or two, e.g. Easter eggs, you can count on some being hard to peel, i.e. the membrane will cling to the egg.

[wombat2go]

The chalaze is twisted on the wrong hand?

Yikes, I had to look that one up.

Come to think of it, the hard boiled eggs for breakfast in Chile are common, and delicious.

The Brits and the Swedes seem to prefer a "Full Breakfast" , and fry the suckers to be done with it.

[J Tiers]

If you want the eggs to peel nicely, you keep them under water. Cold water after boiling is best.

If you let the boiled eggs dry out in the fridge, they often will not peel worth a hoot. Some do, just enough of them that a few folks will always say "keeping under water makes no difference".

[duckman]

Might as well jump in with my solution, I always had trouble peeling hard boiled eggs, then was told to take a pin or needle and poke a hole in the fat end, boil as usual, dump hot water, fill with cold water, when cool crack and peel, easy peasy.

[Arcane]

Not sure how long your fresh eggs (Im jealous) age to be concidered old. I suspect they are still very fresh at that point.

I have to get my eggs from a store, so maybe 1 week old?? Dunno. Then I let them age for two weeks in the frig.

I do 2 dozen at a time and they peel fine. Same eggs not aged in frig are hit and miss re: peeling. Some wont peel at all. JR

Eggs in a supermarket can easily be up to a month old and possibly more.

[danlb]

I used to do a rather complex system of X eggs in Y cups of water in the tall, narrow pot,nhigh heat till boil then standing 11 minutes off the fire with lid on. Immediately bathe in cold, cold, cold water, then crack while under a stream of water. The water gets under the shell and pops it free.

A few years ago my wife got me these silicone "poach pods". You heat the water to boiling. While it's heating, drop a dab of butter in each pod, then your choice of seasonings. Place the pod in the hot water. As soon as the butter melts you crack an egg into each pod. Cover and cook for 6 minutes for a soft boiled egg, 8 minutes for hard boiled.

They are great on english muffins with a round of Canadian bacon and splash of hollandaise sauce.

Dan

https://www.amazon.com/FusionBrands-.../dp/B000P6FD3I

[enginuity]

Your eggs are too fresh!

https://www.wired.com/2009/10/eggs-hard-to-peel/


Refrigeration is also probably part of the problem. In Europe I'm told they don't refrigerate eggs as much.

http://www.businessinsider.com/shoul...gs-2014-7?op=1

[Jon Heron]

Vinegar changed my life forever when it comes to peeling a dozen eggs for pickling.
Like this method http://www.forkly.com/food-hacks/use...ggs-with-ease/
Also if you squeeze the egg with the fractured shell to force the the shell off I find it takes only seconds to shell them.
This works the same with day old eggs or old eggs.
Cheers,
Jon

[KJ1I]

First - hard to peel / easy to peel is entirely up to the chicken and what it has been fed. We've had hours old eggs peel like a breeze, and eggs a few weeks old where you might as well use a paring knife.

On how to cook - I use the Emeril method and they always end up cooked perfectly. Put the eggs into a pan of room temperature water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cover and leave the eggs to cook for 10 minutes. Place the cooked eggs into a ice bath until well chilled (about 30 minutes).