The best tip on how to properly hard-boil, without getting grayed yolks, is to put the eggs in enough water to cover well ("covered by 2 inches", but as long as they're covered, they're good, IME). Bring the water to a boil, and turn it off. When you can comfortably rescue the eggs from the water (below 140 deg F), they're done, and not overdone.
Now, how to get them to peel easily. Serious cooking guides (that actually test their own advice) seem to agree the most important factor is using old eggs. Fresh eggs won't peel well. Eggs that are at least three days old peel well. Here's one instance where your grocery store's high turnaround can work against you. Fortunately, they intentionally cycle the oldest perishables to the front, so the ones you pick up are likely to be the oldest available.
Another tip that supposedly works is to plunge them into ice water, after cooking. Tonight, I boiled 3 dozen eggs, and tested this theory. One dozen went straight from hot water to ice water. 10 of them peeled well. Another dozen sat in the slowly cooling hot water (now just warm), and I peeled them next. 8 of them peeled well.
OK, 10/12 versus 8/12. Probably significant, but not overwhelming. But wait...
I took those 4 eggs from the warm water, and soaked them in ice water. Three of those became really easy to peel. Ta-dah! Ice water saved hard-to-peel eggs!
Clearly, it's not important that the eggs get plunged immediately from the hot water into the ice water. My feeling is, after peeling 36 tonight, that the ice bath firms up the whites, making it easier to pull the sticky shell membrane away. As long as the egg is chilled, the outer flesh is firm, and it works. Cooling them slowly, and refrigerating them before peeling, should work just as well. But that test is for another day.
So, to summarize, here's how to make great hard-boiled eggs:
- Buy eggs a few days ahead of time if possible, because older eggs peel better.
- Cover the eggs with plenty of water, bring to a boil, then cut the heat.
- When the water cools to a touchable temperature, fill a bowl with ice water, and spoon the eggs into the bath. Once chilled, they will peel easier.
When I make my deviled eggs, I buy them a week in advance. 3 days old eggs are OK, but really, the older they are, the easier they are to peel, as you say. If they are a week old or older, they will almost always peel very well. But, if they are very old (three weeks or more), they are difficult to peel as well, as the membrane has disintegrated.
ReplyDeleteWhen boiling, it's important to start with cold tap water, not hot, and the water should cover by about a half inch. Less that that and you get the air pockets in weird places, instead of at the big end. More that that is excessive (two inches, really?) and makes the water too long to boil.
After it comes to a rolling boil, shut off the heat, cover, and let sit for 12 minutes. This is the same as what you say, but the actual time is 12 minutes. Though, I've never boiled more than 3 dozen before, so not sure how long more would take. 12 minutes works for half dozen to three dozen.
Here's where my method takes a turn from yours. I never keep ice in the house, and even when I do, I hate making another bowl "dirty" with water. Yuck. I just dump out the boiling water, fill with cold tap water, let it sit until that water is pretty hot (only a minute or two), then dump that out and fill again with cold tap water. This cools it down just as effectively as an ice bath.
You didn't mention method of peeling... you should crack the entire egg before you start, not too gently. Then start peeling at the air bubble at the large end. It's easy to get your thumb under the membrane there. Getting good control of the membrane is essential to a well-peeled egg.
If you must use new eggs, or you just aren't good at peeling, peel the eggs under running tap water. They peel like a dream. I tend not to, since I really don't need to (unless the eggs are very new), peeling eggs being a particular skill of mine.
Secret #4 to faboo deviled eggs, BTW: Make one or two more eggs than you need, then use the yolks of the extra eggs in the filling, but not the whites. This means that those couple of eggs that inevitably don't peel well or crack are actually part of your cunning plan, and not mistakes! :) And the eggs are soooo full of yummy when you're done. Extra filling is part of why mine are so good.
Of course, I have my last contingency plan, if all goes awry: make egg salad instead!