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Kenji covered hard boiling eggs with scientific rigor: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secre
by stickfigure 5y ago
Kenji covered hard boiling eggs with scientific rigor: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boil...
We have backyard chickens and hard-boil a lot of eggs. The biggest effect on peel-ability: Start with boiling water, do not start the eggs in cold water.
For years I started with cold water because that's what Alton Brown said to do in Good Eats. And for years the eggs were a pain to peel. When I read Kenji's article, I switched, and immediately eggs became much easier to peel. Night and day.
No other factor comes close in terms of effect. Not age, not backyard vs store bought. Not the breed (at least, not for any of the dozen chicken breeds we have had). Start with boiling water and 9/10 eggs peel nicely, start with cold water and 9/10 eggs peel terribly.
- jgerrish 5y agoI've been stuck in Egg Hell for years, and old cookbooks and Good Eats (which is so great and engaging on so many other topics). And it was the Internet that just now added more votes for pre-boil and peel-ability. Cool Internet, Cool.
- lazyant 5y agoAdd salt and they peel fine (they say vinegar too but I didn't find it so effective)
- saltcured 5y agoI'm not sure how accurate this is, but I was told decades ago that starting with cold water was mostly based wanting to avoid scalded hands when placing the eggs into water or to avoid cracked shells from impact of the raw eggs with the pot or with each other.
- ______-_-______ 5y agoIf that's the case, tongs are your friend.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- foobiekr 5y agoThis is interesting to me because pressure cooker eggs start cold but after a few dozen batches, fresh eggs or old, I’ve never had a batch that was hard to peel. I do ice bath them though.
- zhynn 5y agoI steam them to get consistent hot exterior temps. Plus it is easier to rinse them when they are in a steamer basket. And it uses less water. And the water is faster to boil. Totally agree with you on this though.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]