At some point you’re bound to need to hard boil an egg. With these 3 tips for peeling hard boiled eggs, you’ll do it like a pro.
Last weekend I met a young couple at a party. After we got past the pleasantries, we got down to what really matters – food. Although we had virtually nothing in common in other respects (profession, life experience, where we had grown up, age, life style, etc), we chatted fat length about what we had learned from our parents about food.
Out of that conversation I learned a tip for peeling eggs that I later saw in one of my favorite books on the whys of cooking – Cookwise by Shirley Corriher. I tried it and the tip worked well for me. That got me thinking about how useful it would be to collect the egg-peeling tips I’ve learned or developed.
These tips really do help no matter whether you use the eggs with the whites intact (as in deviled eggs), slice them for an egg sandwich, or chop them up in egg salad.
1. Use old eggs. If you have a choice, use older eggs. In On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee gives an excellent explanation for why older eggs peel more easily than newer ones. The fresher the egg, the lower the pH level of the egg white. At lower pH levels, the white tends to adhere to the shell. After an egg sits in the refrigerator for a few days, the pH of its white rises. Then, the white shrinks from the shell, making it easier to peel once cooked.
2. Once the eggs are cooked, cool them down quickly before peeling. Both Harold McGee and Shirley Corriher advise holding the eggs under cold running water for several minutes. I save water by running the cold water for a shorter time. Then I add ice cubes to the bowl or pot in which they sit while the water runs over them.
3. Knock the eggs together before peeling. I know this sounds crazy but try it. (This is the tip I learned at the party, from the guy in the couple, who said he learned it from his mom.) After the eggs have cooled, put them in an empty bowl or pot and with a rolling motion, knock the eggs about for 30 seconds to 1 minute, as if they were in a very gentle game of bumper cars. Then peel them. Usually I periodically dunk them in water as I peel; some people prefer to peel under a small stream of running water.
By the way, how you cook the eggs may matter too. I now steam my eggs for 12-15 minutes. That seems to work better than boiling them.
However you choose to eat them, enjoy your eggs – and your weekend.
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