Boiling the perfect egg

[Electric Rodeo]

You know the kind where the shell comes off in only a few pieces, rather than in a thousand and doesn't have the white stuck to it.

Does this happen to anyone else or am I a crappola cook:chef: (if boiling an egg counts as cooking:laughing:)

So what is the trick...
I usually boil for 10 minutes and then drain and rinse.

That is NOT the trick as the shell is impossible to get off.

What do you do???

[Tam-I-Am]

Pierce the air sac with a pin, place in cold water to cover the egg, put on heat and bring to a boil, then boil for 10 minutes. At the end of the 10 minutes, run under cold water. Put in the fridge overnight. Peel and serve.

[Electric Rodeo]

Pierce the air sac with a pin, place in cold water to cover the egg, put on heat and bring to a boil, then boil for 10 minutes. At the end of the 10 minutes, run under cold water. Put in the fridge overnight. Peel and serve.

Ahhh thanks sounds like my trouble is trying to peel them too quickly, like when they are still warm. Don't trust myself trying to pierce the air sac though:)

[emmwill]

Really fresh (2 or 3 days) are harder to peel.

[Tam-I-Am]

Doing that prevents the egg from cracking in the hot water. I've also heard that if you put a tablespoon of white vinegar in the water, it will stop the whites from leaking out all over the place if the shells DO crack.

It's actually really easy to do (piercing the air sac). Just get a sewing needle, put it in the centre at the bottom and push. To make sure you've pierced it all the way through, you suck on the bottom of the egg - if you get air but no egg white, you've done it. If you don't get air, you haven't pierced the shell all the way through.

[CookiesRYum]

Boiling an egg is really hard work.. so is poaching one.. as an apprentice chef we spend alot of time learning about such things.. haha

What we were taught was...

-Egg at room temp
-Start in cold water
-Bring to hard boil
-Soft boil: 3min from boiling
-hard boil:7-8min from boiling
-Remove heat


*Some ppl say run under cold water, other chefs say don't... I personally: leave the hot water in and run cold water ontop, until the water it warmish but not super

*Trick is to peel them while they are still a bit warm (I do it basically when they are cool enough to touch).. the cooler you leave it the more the shell contracts and they are impossible to peel.

*also the fresher the egg the harder it is too peel (not sure why)

*when peeling: the is shell, white membrame, outside white bit, inside white bit, yolk.. I try to peel the white membrame off gently when I first hack into it - if you don't get this bit off with the shell it will pull off the first the outside white bit..

*I also personally find the longer you cook it the harder it is to peel: if the yolk gets that terrible grey ring on it it is definately overcooked..

[BabyPaparazzi]

if you dont want to use them immediately my dad has the perfect way of cooking (hard boiled) everytime.

*place them in lukewarm water, put on stove
*bring to the boil, let boil a couple of min
*remove from heat, put lid on and just leave
*take out of water when cooled

[Electric Rodeo]

Thanks for those ideas everyone.:)

Interesting about the fresh eggs being harder to peel. We have chooks so our eggs are always very fresh. Might just have to live with eggs that look like they have had a run in with a woodpecker:laughing:

Am going to try leaving them to cool in the water and see how that goes.

[The sooper nanny]

im lazy, we got an egg cooker for our wedding, and it makes the perfect egg, soft or hard boiled everytime.....it also comes with a 'pricker' to needle the egg before you cook them.... i make a big batch and make curried egg... mmm might have to cook some this weekend.

although I do remember the first time I used the cooker, it had a timer that buzzes when its finished.... scared the holy crapola out of me... its the loudest thing ive EVER heard!!:D:laughing:

[Electric Rodeo]

im lazy, we got an egg cooker for our wedding, and it makes the perfect egg, soft or hard boiled everytime.....it also comes with a 'pricker' to needle the egg before you cook them.... i make a big batch and make curried egg... mmm might have to cook some this weekend.

although I do remember the first time I used the cooker, it had a timer that buzzes when its finished.... scared the holy crapola out of me... its the loudest thing ive EVER heard!!:D:laughing:


Oooh I'm a great collector of any electrical kitchen appliances. Will have to keep my eye open for an egg cookerer. Dh will not be pleased I'm sure, just bought two extra cupboards to store my stash:D

[Looshkin]

I've never pricked it with a pin, never even heard of that before.

I peel mine while warm too, because I like to eat them warm.

I just boil them in water for 7ish minutes and then put the pan under the tap so cool water flushes out the hot and then I press down and roll the egg back and fourth so the shell like crinkles and cracks over the entire egg. I then hold it under the running water over the saucepan in the sink while I peel the egg, so my hands don't burn from it being hot.

This works perfectly to peel off the eggs shell straight after boiling.