# How does one make a hard boiled egg?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 7, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048 "2012-04-07T01:47:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/21 "2012-04-07T16:37:57Z")
I do the following, which works more often than not. Week-old eggs. Place in pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand for about 15 minutes. Drain out hot water and shake the pot vigorously to crack the eggs. Fill the pot with cold water and let the eggs cool. Peel under water and rinse them off to remove any remaining shell bits.
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### Author:  [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/22 "2012-04-07T16:51:25Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> I keep meaning to try [this awesome method](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/07/02/how-to-peel-hard-boiled-eggs-without-peeling/) from noted nutcase [Timothy Ferriss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Ferriss).
>
> Particularly convincing because he doesn’t explain it - he does it. Very cool.
I tried that method and almost blew my eardrums out.
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### Author:  [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/23 "2012-04-07T18:07:50Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> You know about the thin membrane, but you need to know what to do about it. The membrane is stuck pretty tight against the egg white. You have to get water between the membrane and the egg white, which means the membrane has to tear open and loosen up from the egg white. Like **Inner Stickler** said, roll the egg on the counter A LOT until the shell is _really really_ broken up into tiny bits, which will both help to pierce the membrane and to loosen it from the egg white. Then hold it under running water as you peel, which will allow water to seep in between the membrane and the egg white. I’ve never not had this work, even with new eggs. If it’s not working, you haven’t cracked the egg shell enough.
Agreed. This almost always works for me. Cold water is best, hold the cracked egg low so the weight of the water will get under the membrane. I’ve peeled eggs this way and gotten the whole shell off in one piece! Also poke a pin-hole in one end of the egg before cooking. Keeps it from cracking all over.
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### Author:  [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/24 "2012-04-07T19:05:06Z")
I’ve done it all altho’ I haven’t visited the links yet. I always start with room temp eggs as well which makes me no genius as you can see. What I haven’t done is consider boiling in a LOT of salt (mild dehydration) which makes some sense.
When I was way younger I used to put the cleaned shells in ground coffee before perking. I don’t know why–it was just something one might do. Why was that???
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### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/25 "2012-04-07T19:17:04Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> I keep meaning to try [this awesome method](http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/07/02/how-to-peel-hard-boiled-eggs-without-peeling/) from noted nutcase [Timothy Ferriss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Ferriss).
>
> Particularly convincing because he doesn’t explain it - he does it. Very cool.
Oh, that looks COOL! I’ll try that next time. I only saw this hours after I made, and peeled this morning’s batch of eggs. They were perfect by the way, and I ate some of them with a dab of creme fraiche with Maya Kaimal spicy ketchup (kecap) on top.
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### Author:  [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/26 "2012-04-07T19:29:16Z")
How do you make an egg hard boiled?
First you have it walk the mean streets of the city as a beat cop. It sees the ugly side of civilization, poverty, violence, hopelessness. Day after day of some creep’s sobbing wife trying to hide a shiner, begging him to go, pleading that she doesn’t want to press charges.
Then, a hard fought transition to detective. Forcing him to get into the mind of the scum he used to just have to clean up after. It’s hard.
Then, his marriage falls apart. He doesn’t even blame his wife for falling into another man’s arms. He’d come home every night haunted by what he’d seen during the day. It’s not so much for a woman to want a little sunlight in her life.
The egg leans heavy on a bottle, and finally is drummed from the force. Justified or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact is the only thing that gave that egg a moment’s peace and some semblance of meaning was the job, and now that’s gone. The only thing the egg knows how to do is be a detective, so now he chases philandering husbands, crooked business men and lost little girls. Earning his money once case at a time, watching the clock and drinking the grave ever closer.
That’s how an egg becomes hard boiled.
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### Author:  [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/27 "2012-04-07T19:34:31Z")
> [@Lobohan](#):
>
> How do you make an egg hard boiled?
>
> First you have it walk the mean streets of the city as a beat cop. It sees the ugly side of civilization, poverty, violence, hopelessness. Day after day of some creep’s sobbing wife trying to hide a shiner, begging him to go, pleading that she doesn’t want to press charges.
>
> Then, a hard fought transition to detective. Forcing him to get into the mind of the scum he used to just have to clean up after. It’s hard.
>
> Then, his marriage falls apart. He doesn’t even blame his wife for falling into another man’s arms. He’d come home every night haunted by what he’d seen during the day. It’s not so much for a woman to want a little sunlight in her life.
>
> The egg leans heavy on a bottle, and finally is drummed from the force. Justified or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact is the only thing that gave that egg a moment’s peace and some semblance of meaning was the job, and now that’s gone. The only thing the egg knows how to do is be a detective, so now he chases philandering husbands, crooked business men and lost little girls. Earning his money once case at a time, watching the clock and drinking the grave ever closer.
>
> That’s how an egg becomes hard boiled.
Damn!..
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### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/28 "2012-04-07T19:49:27Z")
> [@Jake](#):
>
> Damn!..
Double damn!
So then he takes up with a peeler named Flossie, who gets him out of his shell…
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/29 "2012-04-07T19:56:05Z")
Good show, **Lobohan** , for that bit of _Ova Noir._
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### Author:  [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/30 "2012-04-07T23:56:08Z")
Aw shucks, glad I went through the trouble. 😃
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### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/31 "2012-04-08T00:14:49Z")
> [@Lobohan](#):
>
> Aw shucks, glad I went through the trouble. 😃
Sir, or Madam, I salute you. If you can point me to your publications, I would read.
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### Author:  [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2012, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/32 "2012-04-08T05:51:39Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14944930#post14944930](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14944930#post14944930)
Happy Easter?
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### Author:  [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/33 "2012-04-09T16:14:25Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#):
>
> This.
>
> I suck at cooking but hard-boiled eggs have never presented the slightest problem. There is no exact timing problem as with soft-boiled, just put them on the boil and return after 7 or 8 minutes.
>
> I’m baffled by the problems presented here. I’m in England, are our chickens laying different eggs? 🙂
Same here. Perhaps some breeds of hens make eggs that are harder to peel than others?
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### Author:  [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/34 "2012-04-09T16:27:00Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#):
>
> Same here. Perhaps some breeds of hens make eggs that are harder to peel than others?
It’s possible that the shells are different, even with the same breed of chicken. Commercial egg producers in the US know exactly how to feed a chicken so that the eggs she lays have an intact shell, but a thinner one - feeding them more of whatever else is needed to make a harder/thicker shell would be an inefficiency. I don’t know how eggs are produced in the UK and Europe, but I’m guessing it isn’t quite the same as in the US.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/35 "2012-04-09T16:34:41Z")
Eggs sold in stores can be up to 45 days old already. It’s unlikely that any supermarket selling “Fresh Eggs” has newly-laid eggs in the first place.
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/36 "2012-04-09T19:08:21Z")
> [@Lobohan](#):
>
> How do you make an egg hard boiled?
>
> First you have it walk the mean streets of the city as a beat cop. It sees the ugly side of civilization, poverty, violence, hopelessness. Day after day of some creep’s sobbing wife trying to hide a shiner, begging him to go, pleading that she doesn’t want to press charges.
>
> Then, a hard fought transition to detective. Forcing him to get into the mind of the scum he used to just have to clean up after. It’s hard.
>
> Then, his marriage falls apart. He doesn’t even blame his wife for falling into another man’s arms. He’d come home every night haunted by what he’d seen during the day. It’s not so much for a woman to want a little sunlight in her life.
>
> The egg leans heavy on a bottle, and finally is drummed from the force. Justified or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact is the only thing that gave that egg a moment’s peace and some semblance of meaning was the job, and now that’s gone. The only thing the egg knows how to do is be a detective, so now he chases philandering husbands, crooked business men and lost little girls. Earning his money once case at a time, watching the clock and drinking the grave ever closer.
>
> That’s how an egg becomes hard boiled.
I was planning on having hard boiled eggs for dinner. Will this process take that long?
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/37 "2012-04-09T19:57:53Z")
You’ll want to double up on the whiskey to speed the process along…
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### Author:  [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-make-a-hard-boiled-egg/618048/38 "2012-04-09T20:42:51Z")
> [@kittenblue](#):
>
> I think the better question is, “How do those delis consistently make batches of eggs that sit around for quite a while before before being peeled and yet never seem to have issues when they are peeled?” They can’t be using old eggs that they’ve stored for a week like we can, are they?
Might they be using a steamer? When I was in college I worked at the hub, and they had a gigantic steamer that they used for their eggs. They’d come out, we’d let 'em cool for a few minutes, and then we’d peel them–the shells came off easy as a glove.
I can’t speak to their sitting around, though, as we usually peeled ours right away.
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