I can’t say I’ve had any more cracked and leaking eggs with this method than any other I’ve used. Besides which, a cracked egg isn’t exactly a disaster, unless you don’t plan to eat it right away.
In fact, it was my impression that the ice bath was the main factor, so I was a little surprised to read in my cite, when I found it again, that the author was claiming it was putting the eggs in boiling water that made the difference.
There’s no need to leave them in the ice bath very long. When I take them out after a couple of minutes, they’re usually still lukewarm, slightly above room temperature, although certainly not hot.
I’ve never had a cracked egg using the steam method, not once. I can attest that the difference is not the ice bath. I’ve always done the ice bath, no matter whether I boiled/steamed the eggs. When boiled, fresh eggs were still hard to peel. When steamed, the problem goes away.
I don’t eat my hard cooked eggs hot, but I’d be surprised if they 1) cracked or 2) were hard to peel – especially after what commasense said about his article.
You’ll have to let us know how it goes for hot eggs!
