When I was a kid, the procedure was to put the hardboiled eggs into a bowl and mash them up with butter, salt, and pepper. Since we’re talking about ‘breakfast eggs’ and not a cold snack or salad garnish, I’m talking about eating hot hardboiled eggs.
I don’t eat eggs that way anymore, since I would easily eat half a dozen. Better to fry them easy and mix them on top of buttered toast or hashbrowns.
I’ll eat hardboiled eggs warm or cold, with a sprinkle of salt.
No, it isn’t. All you have to do to peel a hot hardboiled egg comfortably is to pour out the boiling water, run cold water into the pan, and pluck them out one by one to be gently bashed before removing the shell and membrane, often in one piece. There’s no mystery, and if you don’t fiddle around you’ll get the job done before the residual heat makes the outside hot again.
I’ll think of you the next time I’m honking on raw egg. 
I’ve never eaten a hard-boiled egg with a utensil unless it’s been cut up or mashed in some form. Hard boiled eggs are finger food. And they’re eaten cold unless they’ve been sliced and fried. I’m amazed at how many people cook and eat their eggs the wrong way.
For clean-peeling hard-boiled eggs, it also helps to use eggs that have aged a bit. Fresh eggs will stick to the shell.
Sliced and fried? I’ve never heard of that.
Am I misunderstanding you? You slice hardboiled eggs and then fry the slices?
I’ve found that a tablespoon of vinegar in the water they’re boiled in makes them much easier to peel.
Yes. I don’t do it often but some people make fried boiled egg sandwiches. I just do it when there’s left over hard boiled eggs and I feel like getting creative with my breakfast. It’s nothing all that special, a life can be well lived without ever having fried sliced hard boiled eggs.
I haven’t used an egg cup in North America since the fifties. We moved in 1960 and the egg cups were lost in the move. I should get some now that I’ve perfected the three minute egg using my sous vide immersion heater. It only takes 45 minutes at 145 degrees F, but it’s perfect.
Bolding mine. Huh. Never heard of doing that (slicing and frying). Kinda cook them twice. Sounds interesting.
Mashing the hard boiled egg up with butter salt and pepper sounds good too.
American here, and I use egg cups for soft-boiled eggs. My husband finds them irritating, but he humors me. I do toast soldiers if I have the time.
I think the America’s Test Kitchen method for soft-cooking eggs is the best. It’s foolproof and easy. I’ve posted about it before.
Bring 1/2 inch of water to a boil in a covered saucepan. Put eggs in, and they can come straight out of the refrigerator; there’s not enough boiling water to make the ice-cold eggs crack. Cover pan, reduce heat, and cook six minutes exactly.
They come out perfectly every time.
My mom used to make soft-boiled eggs for me all the time when I was little. We had these plastic egg cups that were shaped like half of a broken egg shell. Then I went many years without using any egg cups. Finally, a couple years ago when I was in France, the hotel had raw eggs, a hot water bath, and these delightful chicken-shaped egg cups. I didn’t know exactly how long I needed to put the eggs in the water bath, but the results were excellent nonetheless.
My Mom served soft-boiled eggs easily as often as scrambled or fried. No egg cup, just scooped them out of the shells into a small bowl and passed the salt and pepper.
The Ukulele Lady grew up (Chicago) with egg cups, though. Her parents MAY have also used cigarette holders and monocles.
We have three or four painted ceramic egg cups we bought years ago in Sicily. She has at least one soft-boiled egg a week in one, on the weekend.
I don’t use them myself because WHO THE HELL EATS ONLY ONE EGG?
I only remember seeing egg cups in vintage US cartoons.
Hatch-22.
I had them growing up. Our egg cups had a large base so that if you flipped it over you could just crack the entire egg into it, rather than try to eat it carefully with a little spoon.
I’m an American, but I travel to the Netherlands relatively frequently. One of my favorite things about it is the soft boiled eggs in an egg cup at the hotel restaurant.
I’ve never even tried ordering them in the US, and can imagine that I would be met with a blank look if I did.
I eat eggs on a plate with toast & jelly.
I’ve only seen egg cups in old movies.
I think the Three Stooges used them as a story gag.
I have egg cups.
Soft boiled eggiewegs and lovely lomticks of toast is good.
I dont actually like hard boiled eggs much
Having Burgess/Kubrick for breakfast, perhaps not, though nadsat probably makes more sense than my early morning mumblings
The hotel where I stayed in St. Malo in France a couple of months ago had this same boil-your-own egg and little plastic cup set-up at the breakfast buffet. There was a timer on the boiler. The egg I boiled the first morning came out perfect for my tastes–yolk hot and runny and white not disgustingly underdone. The second morning’s egg was barely cooked at all; I suspect the water wasn’t hot enough in spite of the timer.