Hard Boiled Egg 101

[Fugu]

I am always asked how to boil eggs that are easy to peel and I have tried a lot of different techniques with varied success. Fresh eggs are more difficult to peel after it is cooked. Cooking a few eggs is easy enough but larger batches seem to compound this problem. Even leaving the eggs to cool off in the fridge affects the peeling ease of the eggs.

I have cooked eggs by the hundreds so I have encountered different results at different times. I'd like to hear some secrets out there. Have you tried steaming? Do you bring the eggs to room temperature? Do you puncture the eggs first? Do you start with the eggs in cold water? Do you add the eggs after the water boils? How long do you cook it? How do you shock the eggs or not?

[Qwerty]

Ha...

I've heard all sorts of things. Try adding vinegar to the water (not sure why, but it does seem to help). I've had luck with the technique of, after the eggs are cooked, rolling them around in the pan and cracking the shells. Let them sit in the water for a few minutes, and then peel. Supposedly, the water seeps into the layer between the now cooked protein and the shell, making the shell slip off easier. I've had mixed results with this...though, when done properly it does seem to help a lot. Just make sure not to crack the eggs too hard for obvious reasons.

As you stated, the fresher the egg the harder it is to peel. IIRC, this is because the proteins that hold the egg to the shell (albumen, etc) are stronger and weaken as the egg ages (I'm too lazy to bust out McGee right now).

They are easier to peel when the are warm...

[Fugu]

I think fresh eggs are harder to peel because it does not have that air sac found on older eggs? Boiling the eggs produces more pressure, pushes the egg whites against the walls of the egg and no air sac to use as a buffer zone? Just conjectures...I do crack the eggs immediately after cooking, however, it does not work for fresh eggs.

[srhcb]

First, these are hard cooked eggs, not hard boiled.

Shirley Corriher Method

Place enough eggs (older do work better) to cover the bottom of a heavy pan and fill the pan with water to 1" above eggs.

Bring water to a running boil, reduce heat, and boil 45 seconds.

Remove pan from heat and let sit covered 16 minutes.

Rinse under cold running water for at least 5 minutes.

SB (nice whites, no green around yolks, peels come right off )

[Toliver]

You can find out more about cooking eggs and cooking with eggs from the eGCI section of eGullet:

The eGCI

Egg classes are at the bottom of page two and top of page three.

[snowangel]

If I'm using fresh eggs, I've had good luck by poking a pin into one end of the egg -- it does seem to make them easier to peel.

[srhcb]

If I'm using fresh eggs, I've had good luck by poking a pin into one end of the egg -- it does seem to make them easier to peel.

←

I believe that's called "Dutch Method"?

I'll have to ask my cousin, who is recently repatriated after living in The Netherlands for 30 years.

SB (maybe the Dutch are notorious for poking things? )

[Chris Amirault]

The Corriher method that Steve quotes above (and for which several other authors, including Bittman, I believe, vouch) is my go-to method and works every time. I use at least 2" of water and make sure I stir them a few times in that 16 minutes to distribute yolk evenly.

Want easy peeling? Use older eggs and peel under the tap. Works like a charm.

[Varmint]

I've found it a lot easier to peel the eggs if I let them cool, crack them a fair amount, and then let them sit immersed in cold water for a few minutes. The water gets under the shell a bit and makes it a LOT easier to peel.

[feedmec00kies]

i third the soaking the eggs with cracked shells in water.. i think that's the suggestion i read in cooks illustrated once as well...

[Bella S.F.]

The San Francisco Chronicle did one of their "Best Way" blurbs on what they call hard-cooking eggs. I was unsure of this method because of the amount of time involved, particulary after reading that some people swear by letting them cook covered off the heat, after an initial boil. I tried this methiod, however, and the eggs come out perfectly every time. Sft tender yolks with no trace of a green ring.

They say that they tried a dozen different ways to cook the eggs and this one was fail-proof.

For extra-large eggs, place in a pot in a single layer. Cover the eggs with cold water. Make sure to have the water cover the eggs by at least 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Cook for 8 minutes. (I turn the heat down a bit so that the eggs are not dancing all over the pot.) Remove from the heat, drain off the water, add cold water to cool down the eggs, and peel under cold running water. They say that eggs that are at least a few days old are easier to peel.

[russ parsons]

my method is similar to the Corriher method, but not as fussy. Eggs in single layer. Water to cover. Bring to boil. Cook for a minute. Cover and turn off heat. You can leave them as long as you want. Because of the heating curve, the eggs won't overcook (after 15 minutes or so, the water will be cooler than the eggs and so cooking will stop).

Not only do you avoid that hated green ring and sulfur smell, the yolks are golden orange and moist rather than light yellow and dry.

[srhcb]

my method is similar to the Corriher method, but not as fussy. Eggs in single layer. Water to cover. Bring to boil. Cook for a minute. Cover and turn off heat. You can leave them as long as you want. Because of the heating curve, the eggs won't overcook (after 15 minutes or so, the water will be cooler than the eggs and so cooking will stop).

Not only do you avoid that hated green ring and sulfur smell, the yolks are golden orange and moist rather than light yellow and dry.

←

I think this works the same as far as cooking goes, but the rapid cooling method aids in peeling?

SB (of course, some people can just plain peel eggs, and some can't )

[jackal10]

Eggs are complex, See for example http://newton.ex.ac.uk/teaching/CDHW/egg/

Fresh egg whites coagulate in the range 62° to 65°C, the temperatures decrease with increasing pH and hence age. This is why very fresh eggs require more time to cook than older eggs.

Egg Yolk coagulation occurs in the range 65° to 70°C.

According to Harold McGee the "[...]egg white begins to thicken at 63 °C and becomes a tender solid when it reaches 65 degrees". Furthermore, "The yolk proteins begin to thicken at 65 °C and set at 70 °C [...]". (McGee, pp 85),,,McGee (pp 85): "[…]the major [egg white] protein, ovalbumin, doesn't coagulate until about 80 °C".

Hervé This also writes about this: "[...]at 62 °C one of the proteins in the white (ovotransferrin) is cooked, but the yolk remains liquid because the proteins that coagulate first in this part of the egg require a temperature of 68 °C. " (This, pp. 31)

So by selecting the temperature you can choose different degrees of coagulation. Normal boiling works by the time it takes heat to transfer, raising the white to a higher temperature than the yolk.

So for super easy peel eggs you need to get the outside temperature even higher, such as in a hot oven.

For perfect eggs (firm but not rubbery white, just set yolk) cook in a laboratory water bath at 67C plus or minus 1C, or as on a kibbutz I was at once, overnight in a low oven.

[ChefJohnny]

The "Thomas Keller/French Laundry" way is the go-to in my kitchens. Start the eggs in cold/room temp water. Bring the eggs up with the water. At boil, set a timer for 9 minutes for "medium rare" yolks or 11 minutes for "well done" yolks. Immediately place eggs in an ice bath for at least 10 minutes.

Just a side note, the 9 minute yolks are primarily used for sauces and emulsions, but I thought I would include that in my response, just for FYI.

-Chef Johnny

[Fugu]

For perfect eggs (firm but not rubbery white, just set yolk) cook in a laboratory water bath at 67C plus or minus 1C, or as on a kibbutz I was at once, overnight in a low oven.

←

Like an immersion circulator?

Thanks to everyone for the interresting posts.

[Preserver]

well i had to add my piecde to this one *smile* but i g=have done it in many varied ways.one was boiling the water then dunking the eggs in. bad idea, cos the shell would crack. but i like the eggs in the pot and bring the water up to boil with the eggs and let sit for 20 mins then peel. I find that if the eggs were room temp and not cold out of the fridge works best and shock it in cold water for 5 mins before peeling. of course i agree that older eggs works better too.

i like peeling it after giving it a roll on the table, then peeling the shell off in bug peels. i heard that salting the water helps too. i salt my water for boiling eggs..

[foodE]

I really like the steamed hard-cooked method espoused by Alton Brown in his egg chapter of "I'm Just Here for the Food." I believe its on p. 226.

[Shel_B]

I'd like make a batch of boiled eggs. Some questions:

How long can boiled eggs keep in the fridge after cooking? Will hard boiled eggs last longer than medium boiled eggs? Can they be kept for any length of time when the shells have been removed? How long can they last in the shell but unrefrigerated?

Thanks!

[Porthos]

I can only confidently answer one of your questions. After hard-boiling, eggs can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week. After cleaning, eggs are coated with a protective oil that replaces the natural protection that was on the egg when first laid. When an egg is boiled, the protective oil comes off.

I will tell you that once an egg has been peeled I personally would not keep it in the refrigerator more that 48 hours.

How long eggs will last without refrigeration is extremely dependent on the ambient temperature they are exposed to so there is no magic number to be quoted. When I buy multiple flats of eggs for hard-boiling I let them set out at room temperature for 1 day if the temps are getting above 90 or 95 degrees and for 2 days if the temps are more like the seventies or low eighties, then it is into the refrigerator they go. If it gets over 100 it's into the refrigerator right then. I let them set in the refrigerator for one week and then boil them. Fresh eggs don't peel as well as older eggs and this is why I do what I do to age them.

[Special K]

"Storage time: In the shell, hard-cooked eggs can be refrigerated safely up to one week. Refrigerate in their original carton to prevent odor absorption. Once peeled, eggs should be eaten that day." from the Incredible Edible Egg website: http://www.incredibleegg.org/recipes-and-more/recipes/basic-hardcooked-eggs

As for the unrefrigerated boiled eggs, if they're out for longer than two hours, you should not eat them, according to the USDA: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_032105_01/index.asp

Interesting this comes up today - I boiled six eggs yesterday, put them in a container in the 'fridge, took them out this morning to bring to work, and left them out on the counter at home. Dang.

[IndyRob]

If I might add on a related question, I've often wondered why supermarket hard boiled eggs are always bad? Sure, a refrigerated hard boiled egg will never be as good as one freshly cooked and cooled to room temp. But when I do refrigerate a hard boiled egg, it isn't the disaster that I find in a supermarket hard cooked egg.

I don't think it's just old product - although Porthos may have a point in this regard because they're invariably - peeled, but it's not like sometimes I get good ones, and other times I get bad ones. They are consistently bad.

[Shel_B]

When I boil eggs at home, I cook them by bringing the water to a boil, and then turning off the heat and allow the eggs to sit in the water for nine minutes. That gives me eggs exactly how I like them.

When using that same technique and time at my GF's house, the eggs turn out soft and runny - coincidentally, the way my GF likes them.

Any suggestions as to why there is such a difference in the results? The only difference that I can see is the pots that are used. I use a stainless pot woth a heavy disk on the bottom, she has a light-weight aluminum, non-stick pot.

Thanks!

[BadRabbit]

When I boil eggs at home, I cook them by bringing the water to a boil, and then turning off the heat and allow the eggs to sit in the water for nine minutes. That gives me eggs exactly how I like them.

When using that same technique and time at my GF's house, the eggs turn out soft and runny - coincidentally, the way my GF likes them.

Any suggestions as to why there is such a difference in the results? The only difference that I can see is the pots that are used. I use a stainless pot woth a heavy disk on the bottom, she has a light-weight aluminum, non-stick pot.

Thanks!

Judging by your post, I'd say already suspect what the issue is. Your pot probably holds more residual heat and therefore keeps the water warm longer. This is likely due to the difference in material but could also be affected by the shape of the pots and the quantity of water used.

Edited February 21, 2011 by BadRabbit (log)

[ElsieD]

Probably your pot retains more heat. Ever try taking the temperature of the water in each pan when you take the eggs out?