Harvey Motulsky writes:
Every year at passover, I struggle to peel two dozen hard boiled eggs and search the web to see if there isn’t a trick to do it better. But all the hits say the same thing: put the eggs in cold water, then bring to a boil.
But this guy [J. Kenji López-Alt] says to do it the other way: First boil the water, and then put in the eggs. He claims the eggs are much easier to peel this way.
I tried it twice, with no comparison (except memory) and it works great. The shells come off amazingingly easy.
So for students who have access to a kitchen, this seems like a great project: compare ease of shelling eggs put into cold water and heating vs. put into boiling water. Lots of issues with experimental design (how many eggs, randomization, blinding, standardizing other variables like how long to cool, how to score the result) and some decisions about how to analyze the data. All doable in an evening (if they have a kitchen). Or even doable in class with a couple of hot plates.
I haven’t taught a stats course in over a decade, so won’t have a chance to try this, so am passing it along…
I followed Motulsky’s link and, ironically, he’s an author of a book he describes as “not a cookbook.” Make of that what you will.
You should put in boiling water; you have much better control over the cooking time. But pick a small hole in the wide end with the tip of a fork or something like that. There’s an air pocket there, and it’ll break the shell if you don’t give it a means to depressurize.
Also, this is not a panacea for peeling. If you have medium or hard-boiled eggs (not soft-boiled; I’ve tried and they break), then do this: Put the boiled egg in a container with a bit of water, shake it vigorously, and the egg has peeled itself. The water cushions the egg so it doesn’t break apart, and it squeezes in between the egg itself and the surrounding membrane, prying them apart without breaking the egg.
Here’s a video (in Japanese) showing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub_LLaFVkIY
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html
“The number of eggs I’ve boiled over the last several years in carefully controlled circumstances numbers well into the thousands, but ”
Hmm sounds like an opportunity for a big data grant application ;-)
There are 2 other methods, though none is foolproof.
1. Steam them. There is way too much discussion about how long you need to boil. Just steam them. They won’t come in contact with the metal bottom of the pan, which is hotter (unless you have a perfectly conductive pan). Time doesn’t matter as much. And in my experience the shells come off easily if you stick the eggs in cold water.
2. Shake it off. Like Taylor Swift says. Put an egg, still warm, in a partially filled, open-mouthed water bottle, close and shake. Almost all the time the shell slips off like magic. I occasionally get a shard stuck into the egg, but then I tend to shake too hard.
The best way to hard cook eggs was also a subject on today’s Science Friday. In additional to steaming, they recommended letting the eggs age a bit before cooking. http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/04/03/2015/the-1-2-3s-of-hard-cooked-eggs.html?series=35
You could have posted this yesterday! I now have 10 hardboiled eggs which were started in cold water, and will be pock-marked after I’ve peeled them this evening. Posting this yesterday could have let my culinary abilities shine at tonight’s seder :)
Clearly, eggs must be put into boiling water, after the big end is pierced, as per the first comment, to get optimal peeling results. I learned this from my mother, who learned the same from her mother. I suppose it’s been done this way since shortly after humans could afford to consume boiled eggs.
And temperature control works best this way, too: 5.5 minutes for a medium soft-boiled egg, 10 minutes for a medium hard-boiled egg. This way,the hard-boiled eggs don’t get rubbery, green on the inside, or suffer from any other unappetizing attributes.
Place the eggs in a pot. Fill with cold water. Bring to a boil. Let boil for about a minute. Remove from heat. Cover. Let stand for 15 minutes. Empty water but leave eggs in pot. Fill with cold water. Take an egg crack shell on counter, roll the egg and it should peel quite nicely.
Pingback: The Hub Sheet - April 6, 2015: Utah's most popular newsletter with this name. - Utah.Politico.Hub