Topic: Shelling hard boiled eggs

[terrier]

OK, so this isn't a recipe, but it's still to do with food  ::) Nice fresh eggs straight from an obliging chook, boiled for 10 minutes untill cooked hard, cool them in cold water, then I try to shell them. That's where I come unstuck.. I can't get the shells off without the egg falling apart as the white bits stick to the shell. What am I doing wrong  :-[  Can anyone help me to get the perfect shelled hard boiled egg?

[Mrs Ava]

Never hard boil a completely fresh egg.  Leave them for a few days before hard boiling, even a week or more, and then they will peel.  We keep quail.  You think peeling hard boiled hens eggs is hard...you wanna try them.  I learnt, and was told, at least 10 days before hard boiling.  Mind you, even then they are a b*gger to peel.

[goodlife]

...or with really fresh eggs...you may want to do little pin prick on the shell so little water will get in to 'lubricate' things..shell should come of then better ;)

[PurpleHeather]

the trick is to crack the egg  so that when you plunge them in cold water, to stop that nasty ring around the yolk forming, the water gets between the white and the shell. there is a little area at the base of the egg where there is a pocket of air and that should be pierced for best results.

Then before peeling the cold hard boiled egg roll it on a flat surface with the palm of the hand so that the shell  is all cracked all over.

Years ago Clement Frued (my apols if that is mis-spelt) did a TV show and explained it all. I was very grateful to him and have never had a problem peeling hard boiled eggs since.

[grannyjanny]

That's the way I do it PH ;).

[tim]

10 mins? For an insipid, pale powdery yellow yolk? Never more than 7.5 in (just) boiling water = orange & moist yolk. Especially if you are going to re-cook them them.

To peel - crack each end on the table, then roll under hand until cracked all over. Never fails.

[Ninnyscrops.]

To peel - crack each end on the table, then roll under hand until cracked all over. Never fails.

That's the way I do it, lots of practice doing cricket teas over the years  ;)

Ninny

[lorna]

Agree. last year for Granddaughters wedding one of my my jobs was to boil and shell 100 hard boiled eggs. I just ran them under cold water when cooked and then rolled them on my work surface until cracked all over. Yes it works.

[PurpleHeather]

I was also told, as a grown up,  that the best way to boil an egg. Soft or hard boiled was NOT to plunge it into hot water but to start from cold the water has to cover the eggs.

As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat and leave the eggs. (cover the pan with a lid though)

3 mins very soft yolk perhaps white too if it is a large egg for dipping with soldiers

5 mins so that the yolk has a little softness, this wont be drippy

7 mins for the yolk to be firm enough to be called hard boiled but not rock hard.

If making scotch eggs and the egg is going to be re-cooked then 5 mins is enough.

The 10 mins was what my mother used to do she would plung the eggs into boiling water, often the shell cracked too.  

It was just the way we were told at the time I suppose and there was not enough spare food around to experiment. And eggs are not all the same size.

[terrier]

So, to recap, egg at least a week old, 7 and a half mins in just boiling water, roll the egg to crack it all over = perfect HB egg. Sounds easy enough  :-\  Thanx all.

[tim]

Whoa!!  7.5 mins for a LARGE egg - & crack both ENDS before rolling.

This is only one of 736 different ways, but many of them are quite complicated.
And they don't all agree on - for instance - why cold water. Some say ro make it easier, some to prevent greening.......etc!!

And it all depends on how you like your egg. I DON'T like the age old yellow powder!!

[Jeannine]

chilled quickly in cold water after boiling for no greening or ring..still like the duck egg best though

[tim]

Oh, do so agree.

But then it's 7 min for soft!!

[terrier]

..and I thought there would be an easy answer, LOL. I read that one way to get gently cooked eggs to avoid the 'bullet' yolk and leathery white  is to boil the water, remove the heat, place eggs in water and leave to cool. That was called 'coddling'. I dare say there's lots of ways to coddle eggs as well.

[Jeannine]

Yep, but usually in little China pots with lids on :D

[terrier]

Yep, but usually in little China pots with lids on :D

Hey, we've got some of those,but we break the shell off the egg before coddling and mix with other tasties. They're great for picnics.

[PurpleHeather]

I just remembered to-day that years ago Terry Wogan asked listeners to write in with their method for making the perfect boiled egg. I think reading this gave that memory one of it's regular jolts into the past.

A couple of replies stuck in my mind about the timing. One was to place the egg in boiling water when the traffic lights were red and watch until they came red again the third time and take the egg out. That person lived in a flat where there were traffic lights which they could see from their kitchen window. Then there was the lady who lived next door to a chap in the Salvation Army. She said she always knew when he was making boiled eggs for breakfast because he sang Onward Christian Soldiers. Apparently a certain number of verses took the same time to sing as the eggs took to boil.