Let's talk about hard boiled eggs!

[mike]

My wife cooks them in an instantpot for five minutes, then lets it release steam for five minutes, then puts them in ice water for five minutes. I’ve seen my four year old peeling them and it looks super easy. I try to stay away from the kitchen.

[ohio jones]

I don't think I've ever made hard boiled eggs.

The one time I tried, they turned out to be soft boiled. Rather messy.

Can't cook them too long, they get soft!

I’ve been streaming my eggs for a little while now.

Yeah, that's what mine were doing -- streaming. It wasn't because they were cooked too long, it was the opposite problem.

[steve-in-kville]

I found that using older eggs, (maybe two weeks old) works the best.

Grace came the closest to how we do it. If we buy eggs, we let them sit on the counter for a day or so. This ages them faster we found. Many times our eggs come from "salvage" sources, so they are already old

Put eggs in kettle, cover with water. Place on burner, set burner to high. Once it reaches a rolling boil, back the heat off a bit and allow a "low boil" for 17 minutes. Remove from heat, place kettle in the sink and run cold water over it for a few minutes. Remove eggs from water but let them sit out for a while to come down to rom temp. This allows the excess water to steam off. Then put in fridge.

Eggs will almost peel themselves

[steve-in-kville]

My wife is interested in how well they turn out in the oven?

Don't have the recipe in front of me, but we use a muffin pan with liners. Add one tablespoon of water and crack an egg in each one. Forget temps and time, but the children eat them all.

I found a recipe for French creamed eggs that uses heavy cream. That has become a favorite as well.

[MaxPC]

My wife is interested in how well they turn out in the oven?

Don't have the recipe in front of me, but we use a muffin pan with liners. Add one tablespoon of water and crack an egg in each one. Forget temps and time, but the children eat them all.

I found a recipe for French creamed eggs that uses heavy cream. That has become a favorite as well.

Sounds interesting, Steve. My wife was interested in the method of eggs baked in their shells in a muffin pan. Have you tried that yet? How good are they?

My wife is sharing her egg salad recipe for those interested. It tastes more of Indian cuisine which we prefer. Vary the amounts depending on taste
-Chopped eggs
-Salad cream
-Minced onion
-Sultanas (raisins), chopped
-Finely chopped apple
-Curry powder, depending on taste preference and salad amount, can be a pinch up to a teaspoon.
-Salt and pepper

Mix it together and allow to set a few hours in the refrigerator. Serve on bread, salad leaves or other.

[steve-in-kville]

I don't think I've ever made hard boiled eggs.

The one time I tried, they turned out to be soft boiled. Rather messy.

Can't cook them too long, they get soft!

I’ve been streaming my eggs for a little while now.

Yeah, that's what mine were doing -- streaming. It wasn't because they were cooked too long, it was the opposite problem.

I never heard of hard boiling eggs in the oven. Sounds interesting.

[Pelerin]

One of the reasons I prefer steaming eggs over boiling is that when I boil them, there’s always one or two eggs that break open in the water whereas I’ve never had that happen when I steam them—until just now.

(I didn’t try vinegar steaming them yet because I didn’t have any close at hand.)

[RZehr]

I’m a pretty experienced egg boiler, if I do say so myself. I’ve boiled and hand shelled thousands in the past few years. I’ve experimented extensively. The biggest thing one can do for east shelling, is to use older eggs. Egg shells are permeable and as the egg ages, air enters the egg. This air pocket gets larger with time. Eventually it gets enough air in it that the egg will float. Throw these floaters out, they are too old. If you shell an egg, and there’s no dimple where the air pocket was, that is a fresh egg.
The air pocket causes the membrane to no longer exactly fit the egg. This creates some slack in the membrane, which makes shelling much easier. Separating the membrane from the egg is really the key to shelling eggs, and anything you can do to achieve that, will make your job easier.
You can try changing the temperature suddenly. Ice to boiling water, to ice water. This helps rupture the membrane to egg connections
In theory you can try to pierce the membrane with a needle before boiling.
What I’ve decided works the best for me, is giving the egg a hairline crack against the counter. To much, the egg will break in the water. This crack allows a tiny big to water to get in, and helps separate the membrane a bit.

I believe that certain chickens produce eggs that are harder to shell. I’ve had fresh eggs from mixed farm flocks, all eating the same stuff, and certain colored eggs seemed to shell a wee bit easier than others.
I think chicken diet makes a wee bit of difference too.
I think commercial white eggs are about the easiest to shell. Probably due to a combination of the breed of chicken and what they are fed. They are generally aged more than farm eggs, but I think I’ve controlled for that when I say they are easier.



But again, I’ve found nothing makes a difference more than just using older eggs. Let them breath.

[steve-in-kville]

RZehr explained it better than I could've.

[RZehr]

I found that using older eggs, (maybe two weeks old) works the best. Boil them for 10 minute, drain the water and immediately cover them with ice water. Wait a few minutes, until you can comfortably handle the eggs (not as hot) and peel. Usually works for me.

Put the eggs in a jar. Get a 15 oz.can of sliced red beets and pour in a small kettle, Add a 1/4 to 1/2 can of water to the red beets and juice. Then add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup vinegar, pinch of salt and any other spices you might want. If you want a more tart egg, add more vinegar. Heat until the sugar is dissolved, but avoid allowing the mixture to boil. Pour over the hard boiled eggs, wait about 24 to 48 hours and enjoy.

I slice my boiled eggs lengthwise into 1/6 with this gadget: Best Utensils Stainless Steel Egg Slicer Wedger Cutter, Divides Hard Boiled Eggs Into 6 Equal Segments In One Action https://a.co/d/58Ao1bh
Then I put salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar on each wedge (or red wine vinegar, or white vinegar. Balsamic is nice.) and or sometimes, a tiny drop hot sauce such as sriracha or Marie Sharps.

Since I don’t use the ice method, I put the cold eggs in cold water on the stove, once the water begins to boil, I let them boil for seven minutes. And take them off, cool them with cold water enough so I don’t get burned, and shell them. If they are still warm when I eat them great.

Now I’m hungry for some. I think I’ll go boil some.