# hard boiled eggs and heat retention **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989 "2005-09-23T01:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/1 "2005-09-23T01:22:30Z")
Whenever I hard boil an egg, peeling it by hand is always painful, and the eggs seem to have an amazing ability to retain heat even after being run under cold water for several seconds. Do hard boiled eggs have unusually high heat retention capability for something of thier size/mass, or is something else at work here? ---
**Author:** ![Erinaceus\_europaeus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Erinaceus\_europaeus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erinaceus_europaeus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/2 "2005-09-23T01:29:13Z")
Eggs are - more or less - spherical, which means they have a small surface area compared to their volume. There might be more to it, but my tip is to hold them under the cold tap for a minute and then leave them in the pan with some cold water for a couple of minutes more. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/3 "2005-09-23T02:29:33Z")
I crack the hard boiled eggs and run cold water over them. Soaking them in cold water not only solves your pain problem, but makes them peel more easily. ---
**Author:** ![PBear42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PBear42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PBear42)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/4 "2005-09-23T02:53:17Z")
Look at it this way. It takes about 18 minutes for heat to penetrate to the core of an egg and set the proteins (which happens at about 170 degrees). It stands to follow that it will take more than a few seconds, or even minutes, for it to cool down. Partly because of the egg’s shape, but mostly because of its density. FWIW, I generally let 'em sit in cold tap water for at least half an hour before peeling. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/5 "2005-09-23T04:22:20Z")
I just place them in cold water for four or five minutes after cooking if I plan to eat them immediately. Otherwise I simply dry and refrigerate them. If you ask me, the trickier part is figuring out just how long they need to cook. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/6 "2005-09-23T04:35:33Z")
Peel them in a bowl of water or under running water. :o ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/7 "2005-09-23T10:53:30Z")
> [@Catalyst](#): > > I just place them in cold water for four or five minutes after cooking if I plan to eat them immediately. Otherwise I simply dry and refrigerate them. If you ask me, the trickier part is figuring out just how long they need to cook. My as-yet foolproof egg boiling method: I put the eggs in a pot, cover them with water, bring the water to a boil, turn the heat off, cover with a lid, and let sit for 15 minutes. Perfect hard-boiled eggs every single time. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/8 "2005-09-23T12:05:56Z")
An equally simple & foolproof method is to put the eggs from the fridge into a pan with enough cool (normal tap temperature) water to cover. Put the heat on high, leave the lid off and 15 minutes later they’re done. No attention required; just set the timer & forget them. Dump out the boiling water, refill with cool water, wait about 3 minutes, then peel & eat. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/9 "2005-09-23T14:26:33Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > My as-yet foolproof egg boiling method: I put the eggs in a pot, cover them with water, bring the water to a boil, turn the heat off, cover with a lid, and let sit for 15 minutes. Perfect hard-boiled eggs every single time. I follow the same method, but I haven’t yet found a minimum time that will guarantee my eggs don’t have those gross partially-solidified areas; 15 minutes is almost definitely too short in my experience. I suspect that I’m probably using less water per egg than you are, which results in less heat available to transfer to each egg. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/10 "2005-09-23T14:28:36Z")
I also put it in the pot, but no way do I let it cool! I start the time when the water starts boiling, and boil for 15 minutes. Then I take them out and put them in a bowl of cold water, and peel them under water and have never had any problems with solid parts or being too hot to peel. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/11 "2005-09-23T17:40:57Z")
I use the henrietta egg cooker, it more or less steams the eggs with a very small amount of water and seems to cook them perfectly without fail. One other aspect of a cooked egg is when you run it under cold water, the egg will be fairly cool to the touch but after a few seconds the shell heats up again, so you either have to keep it under the water as you peel it or wait until its cool enough to handle…problem there is I really enjoy HOT hard boiled eggs, and if you just cut them in half you dont really get all the egg if you dig it out with a spoon, plus you tend to get some shell in there. Im guessing the phenomenon occurs partly because the egg is spherical as erinaceus put it, and also because the shell is porus? Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/12 "2005-09-23T18:03:30Z")
To add to what **PBear42** wrote, heat gets to and from the egg’s interior by conduction, and most non-metals are poor conductors of heat. So it takes time to cook and cool the egg. Pies are another food that take a long time to cook and cool. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/13 "2005-09-23T18:33:10Z")
15 minutes to boil an egg? Are you people nuts? I boil mine for 5, and they turn out perfectly medium. If I leave them fot 7 minutes they are definitely already hard. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/14 "2005-09-23T18:37:22Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 15 minutes to boil an egg? Are you people nuts? I boil mine for 5, and they turn out perfectly medium. If I leave them fot 7 minutes they are definitely already hard. As an eater of soft boiled eggs, I can attest to this fact. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/15 "2005-09-23T22:50:56Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 15 minutes to boil an egg? Are you people nuts? I boil mine for 5, and they turn out perfectly medium. If I leave them fot 7 minutes they are definitely already hard. Do you mean 5 minutes from starting with cold water in a cold pan, or do you mean whatever time it takes to get the water boiling, plus 5 minutes? And during that 5 minutes is the heat on or off? Is the pan covered or uncovered? How much water; just enough to cover the eggs, or twice (or half) that much? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/16 "2005-09-24T01:30:43Z")
[Julia Child’s method](http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/eggs/01/rec0137.html) for perfect hard-boiled eggs involves starting with cold water, having 1" of water above the eggs, bringing the water and eggs to a boil, and then cover the pan, remove from heat and wait for 17 minutes of rest time. Boiling the hell out of an egg is (IIRC) more likely to produce a greenish yolk and a more rubbery texture, plus it makes it harder to peel. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/17 "2005-09-24T05:49:18Z")
Julia stole my idea! And then tried to cleverly mask it by adding 2 minutes to the time. Go figure. 😉 (I had no idea that was Julia Child’s method, or I’d gladly have credited her). ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/18 "2005-09-24T16:42:44Z")
Well, I doubt she copyrighted or invented it or anything, so you’re probably in the clear as well. 😉 Just citing her as an authoritative source on how to cook eggs! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-boiled-eggs-and-heat-retention/322989/19 "2005-09-24T20:59:44Z")
For a perfect hard-boiled egg recipe, you need to control the temperature the egg must reach, how quickly, and for how long. You’d really need to specify lots of things at least within narrow limits, like the initial temperature of the eggs and water, the amount of water vs. the number of eggs, how long the water takes to reach a boil, etc.