Egg Advice

by Larry Feldman

I always like to have a few hard cooked eggs in the fridge as they are great in salads or just on their own as a quick snack.

Unfortunately, I was never able to master the art of perfectly peeling the egg. It was always hit and miss. Sometimes the peel would come off effortlessly and other times, it would break into a thousand chards and took forever to take off - and if it did, most of the white went along with it.

Over the holidays, I prepared quite a few recipes that called for hard cooked eggs. In frustration with the first dozen I made, I finally decided it was time to consult the experts. I checked many online sites and the advice was varied and in most cases contradictory. A lot of the sites said to do exactly what I was already doing! Then I found a discussion board about the subject. I never would have guessed that people would discuss hard cooked eggs online, but apparently they do, which is good because I found a method that actually works!

The method is from a fellow that works in a busy truck stop in the southern US. Egg salad and egg salad sandwiches are popular items on the menu and he estimates he peels 40 dozen, or 480 hard cooked eggs a day. After peeling that many eggs each day, you would think he would have it down to a science. I tried his method and it worked.

Here it is:

Place eggs in a pan large enough to hold all the eggs in a single layer on the bottom. Put enough cold water in the pan to cover the eggs by an inch. Put on a tight fitting lid and bring to a rolling boil. The minute it hits a rolling boil, remove the pan from heat. Keep the lid on tight and allow it to sit for 18 minutes then drain the hot water and replace with cold tap water. Let sit for 30 seconds, then drain and replace again with cold water.

On a hard surface, tap the top and bottom of the egg hard enough to crack, then place the egg on it’s side and gently roll to crack and loosen the shell. Turn the egg over and start peeling from the bottom.

The good news is, it worked perfectly. Also in my search, I learned another thing about hard cooked eggs, that is to never attempt the process if a thunderstorm is approaching or in progress. If so, the eggs apparently will not set. This is one thing I think I’ll just take their word on!