Nowadays all I get is AI slop articles about “other ways to cook eggs”.
With a spoon under a running faucet. It’s the perfect tool for peeling an egg.
Everyone has their specific method, personally I tap the top and bottom on the counter, then roll it on the counter with a little bit of pressure. For me, this let’s the shell get all cracked up but still stick to the membrane and peels off super easily… It worked well enough that my wife asked me why I never mention it for the first decade of our marriage, I thought everyone knew and just did it their own way.
Press it on the counter then roll it while pressing. Like a rolling pin. It creates lots of cracks. Then do the water thing.
I just hit it againt the counter until the peal breaks then it starts behaving like a bouncing ball. I keep playing with the ball until the shards are small enough and then pull the peal that now is more like a skin.
Then wash it with running water to get rid of the remaining shards. This step helps cooling down the egg which after boiling is too hot anyway, but you can probably skip and just pull the remaining shards manually it if you are one of those people who can stand and prefer things superhot.
My best results come from:
- Bring your water to a boil. Before or after it starts boiling, add a disgusting amount of baking soda. The alkalinity will help weaken the shell membrane, so that they peel like much older eggs
- As your boiling time comes to an end, prepare a bowl of salty ice water. The salt is to lower the freezing point so that the ice cubes cool the water to perfect shocking levels
- As soon as your egg is cooked, quickly and SAFELY move it from the hot water to the ice bath. Let the egg hang out for a bit. People often enjoy chilled hard boiled eggs, so every bit of time the egg chills gets to closer to enjoying the fruits of your labor
- Crack the shell a little bit and then run the egg under cold tap water while you gently peel the shell away using your fingerTIPS, not nails
- When the water hits at the right angle, it should practically peel the egg for you, right under your fingers.
Your water for boiling can be reused for cooking beans, the baking soda will help break down the various gas-causing sugars, and cellulose. Don’t fully cook them in this water, they’ll taste bad. This is simply a trick so that you can soak your beans for 45 minutes or so instead of overnight.
The salt bath can be used to start a brine, or to cook pasta.
That’s a great question! Break the shell a bit with a spoon, peel under flowing water. The end.
You are absolutely right! Thanks for your insightful answer.
Are you 2 LLMs?
No, I am not a language model (LLLMs) designed to understand and generate human—like text.
Agree!
I just hit the egg a few times on the sink.
Also best to include the membrane under the shell, so a whole lot can be peeled in one go.
After you boil it, put it in some cool water. This helps the white pull away from the shell a little bit, I think. I use a plain kitchen knife to crack the egg and then slide the end of the knife between the shell and the cooked white. There’s a kind of a film layer in between too. Usually, this helps the shell stick together as you peel it off.
You want to break off pieces at a time, don’t go for the whole thing all at once. Work your way around the egg slowly, breaking off chunks of the shell as you go. Once you’re about halfway done, you can usually hold the egg over a bowl or plate or something and then work the tip of the knife around the rest of the shell, letting the egg fall out onto whatever is below it.
It takes a little practice but you should get it after a few eggs. Hard boiled eggs are easier. Soft boiled eggs aren’t too bad but you have to be careful that you don’t dig too deeply because you’ll break the yolk and it all runs out.
Two thing to add. First slightly older eggs peel better (aka what you get from the supermarket). Second: use the ball of your fingers not the nail to avoid ripping up the white.
The way I was taught was to place down a paper towel, then crack the side of the egg against the flat surface and roll the egg back-and-forth to mush the shell into much smaller pieces.
Should make it easier to peel bit by bit instead of pulling away large chunks that can cut into the egg “flesh.”
Edit: the paper towel was to make it easier to clean up the shell bits afterwards
Yes! Tap it against the counter to start the first crack, and then somewhat firmly roll it on the counter to break the shell all over. You can also do it by tapping it all over with a spoon or something but the rolling is so much quicker I never bother anymore
That’s my technique as well.
This is partially because 90% of the time the cook determines how an egg will peel. The other 10% are eggs that are too fresh and no matter what the shell would stick.
But I am the cook
Peeling can be easy or difficult in part due to the cooking method. Here’s a good write up on tests of various cooking methods to make easier peeling hard boiled eggs: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs
I use Kenji’s method as well and it’s never once failed. Here’s a video 'splanation in case that suits you better.
It is a good write up, but I have a 90+% success rate of easy peeling starting with cold water on an electric stove and then putting them in an ice bath.
Water from the tap, put eggs in and set to high. When it starts a rolling boil turn off the heat and put the lid on, start a timer, but don’t move the pot. This will cause it to continue boiling for a a few more minutes.
At 11 minutes after putting the lid on I run cold water into the pot to bring down the water temp so I can fish out the eggs. When tolerable I put them in an ice bath and leave them there for about 10 minute or so. When doing it this way I only get one or maybe two in a dozen that is hard to peel by just hitting it on a firm surface and then using fingers to pull shell off sideways.
I had much worse results before the ice bath, and I didn’t change anything else.
Funny, that’s exactly how I used to do it. And I still do if I want cool eggs sooner.
Our eggs may be different (US here, working from refrigerated washed eggs) or I am less lucky. I had mostly success, but sometimes had troublesome eggs and would have a few mangy looking ones where the white sticks to the inside of the shell and water doesn’t change it. Chunks of white pull away. After switching to the Kenji method I have more success than before. Still once in a while I get a stuck shell, but less often.
Mit einem eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher, natürlich
But if you’re headed for deviled eggs or that sort of thing, a cold plunge is what I’ve always been told.
The trick is getting the skin beneath the shell to pull the rest of it
Fresher eggs will be harder to peel tho
I’ll second the fresh eggs part. We get our family’s eggs from a farmer in the next town over. They said that week old eggs will peel much easier.
FWIW, place week old eggs in a pot, cover with cool water, bring to a rolling boil, cover and remove from heat. Wait 20 minutes exactly, then dunk in cool water.
As others have suggested, bang top and bottom of the egg, then roll gently on the countertop/table to crush all of the shell without piercing the membrane, then pierce through the membrane on the top of the egg where the air bubble is and peel from there. Most of the time the shell amd membrane comes off in one piece.
I do the same but I only wait 11 minutes and then I put ice over them
For starters, eggs should be put in already boiling water, as opposed to heating up the eggs and the water together. Otherwise the egg sticks to the white. If you have problems with eggs cracking while boiling, use a needle or a knife to poke a hole in the shell in the end that is the least pointy so that the air bubble inside has an escape.
I usually drop it in the table and roll it around just to get the entire shell to Crack. Then it should come off easily.
I was told to steam my eggs at some point because the temp of the water won’t drop from the cold eggs. They’ve always peeled well cooking them this way.
True. I can’t be arsed, but dedicated egg cookers do this for that reason.
I don’t really understand people getting out an unnecessary utensil to crack the egg. Put the pot you cooked it in in the sink and run cod water on it. Then just knock it against the inside of the pot to crack it. If you like the roll technique, roll it against the pan. Do this in the water; some believe cracking it underwater helps the shell release, tho honestly I’m not sure about that part.
Guess I need to go find some cod water now
If you have an actual cod you can save a step by just slapping the egg with the fish directly.
Found the fivehead
Just watch out for the zombie mode.
It definitely helps. I like soft and medium boiled eggs, which are super hard to peel, and eventually found that peeling then under water helps a lot.
You put it in cold water for a few minutes and it’s pretty easy with your fingers, like peeling a brittle orange.
This has to be when it’s still hot… Right?
Put it in the cool or cold water right from the hot water so that it goes from hot to not hot quickly. Peel after it has cooled down.
Yes. When it is done boiling, you put it in cold water for like 10 seconds (i usually put it under the faucet).
