I’ve been eating a lot of hard boiled eggs lately. Largely for extreme budgetary reasons. in the last 3 months, I’ve probably gone through a dozen dozens of them. In all that–and probably more–I have not a single one that peeled easily. Not one. I’ve tried all the remedies I can find: add vinegar, add baking soda, plunge into ice water, don’t use fresh eggs–and it still takes me like 5 minutes to produce an egg that looks like James Wood.
Could it be that Chicago water is so hard? Should I just accept the inevitability of shredded and pockmarked eggs with bits of membrane stuck to them?
I tried a new method and it worked! It was the vinegar and salt method added 8 eggs boil gently for 15 minutes. To cool down, I filled a bowl with ice, set the eggs on ice added a little water and let them sit in it for a 5/10 minutes. I peeled one right away with great results. Virtually all of the eggs peeled easier. I use brown eggs usually.
Too be fair though, I’ve never found a foolproof way to peel eggs. What works best for me is to boil them in my electric kettle, pour off the water, shock them in ice water and then peel immediately. Probably 80% of such eggs peel smoothly for me. The rest, some eggs are just tough to peel.
The latter. If they’re TOO fresh, they won’t peel easily, no matter what method you use. A friend who has her own chickens confirmed this. She said the eggs need to be at least two weeks old.
I have no opinion about how age affects peeling, but my general experience is that whether an egg is easy or hard to peel seems entirely random, independent of type (color) of egg, size, brand, or freshness. Generally, but not always, eggs out of the same box will tend to have similar qualities.
Incidentally, I’ve read that the proper way to make hardboiled eggs is to put them in a pot of cold water (to keep the shells from cracking), heat to boiling, then turn off the heat for 11-12 minutes. This has always worked for me and prevented overcooking them which I used to do commonly.
Then I rinse them in cold water. If it’s winter, I put them on a shelf in the garage in a plastic container until they’re thoroughly cold before going in the fridge. Otherwise I leave them in cold water for at least five or ten minutes.
To peel, crack them all over very thoroughly and hold under water so that the water seeps between the thin membrane and the shell. Then the shells loosen and slip off more easily.
After hearing much praise for electric egg steamers right here on this site, I invested a few bucks in the (click link). And I’m not the sort of person who buys one-use kitchen gadgets.
My hard boiled eggs peel much more easily.
The yolks stay centered, which makes for aesthetically attractive deviled eggs.
I don’t hear any complaints from the Ukulele Lady about her soft boiled breakfast egg being overcooked. Happy wife, happy life.
I don’t even have a special steamer. I just use a steamer insert in a regular pot. Works perfectly well, and they are a dream to peel – even straight out of the chicken.
Actually, the fresher they are the harder they are to peel. That’s what’s such a pain: you can’t just buy em and boil em. You need to let them sit out a few days. I’ve tried all different lengths of time, in and out of the fridge. Nothing changes.
