Hard Boiled Eggs. What’s your secret?

The batch I made this week are ALL hard to peel right out of the pan.
Usually this is not the case. Fresh from store and this time local brown eggs since they are cheaper than the commercial white eggs at Kowalski’s. I put them in cold water then covered and shut off the heat when it hit boil. Cooked for 11 minutes then cooled them down fast. Egg wise they are good. The yolk is nice and yellow. (no green) But they are very hard to peel. Even losing some of the white with the shell. What did I do wrong?
Anyone have a secret to better peeling eggs?

Were you ever a frequent user of FishingMN? There was a lengthy post there about poking your eggs back in the day. Apparently poking with a thumbtack helps, but a lot of people have success without doing that trick.

They’re probably real fresh eggs. The wife buys eggs for her deviled eggs about a month before she’s going to do them, say for Easter. She bought those eggs two weeks ago. She says the membranes in the eggs that are fresh won’t let go of the shell or the cooked egg. Swears that eggs at least a month old won’t have that membrane.

She starts with ice cold water with the eggs in it and brings the water to a light boil for four minutes or so, then dunks them immediately in ice water.

My grandma used to have one of those old wives tales answers to this question. Maybe it was vinegar? Or the water had to be boiling or cold or something. I don’t know because once I smelled old people egg farts I knew eggs weren’t for me. Except maybe a couple deviled eggs.

I do roughly the same thing. I like to hit mine on the end, then roll across on a paper towel before peeling them.

We have our own chickens and I set aside our blue eggs as that bird lays eggs with shells that are consistently thicker which makes them easier to peel quickly (larger pieces).

Do yourself a favor and don’t ever go back to the factory store-bought eggs.

The older the egg, the easier it is to peel as the membrane deteriorates over time

Riverrat wrote:

My grandma used to have one of those old wives tales answers to this question. Maybe it was vinegar? Or the water had to be boiling or cold or something. I don’t know because once I smelled old people egg farts I knew eggs weren’t for me. Except maybe a couple deviled eggs.

Both of these, start with cold water and a splash of vinegar then bring to a boil.

The real egg riddle is why in one sitting can I eat 2-3 fried eggs, but 4-6 if they are scrambled eggs, and unlimited amounts of deviled eggs? Like I honestly don’t know how many because they run out before I stop eating them.

BigWerm wrote:

The real egg riddle is why in one sitting can I eat 2-3 fried eggs, but 4-6 if they are scrambled eggs,

For me it’s the opposite. I can eat more fried eggs than the same amount scrambled. Must be the air in the scrambled eggs. When I was in my 20s after a night of drinking, I had a dozen eggs for breakfast plus bacon and toast of course.

As others have said you want old eggs, not fresh. Also the brown, cage free, or pasture raised eggs are healthier and have a thicker membrane than the bargain whites.

What seems to work best for me is to get the water boiling, then put the eggs in for 13 minutes, then dunk them in cold water. I used to start them in cold water all the time and had a harder time peeling them. Putting them straight into boiling water seems to work much better no matter the age of the egg.

When you boil them, just put a little vinegar in the water.

I stopped making hard boiled eggs recently because of the cost, but when I did, the small amount of vinegar helped peel the shells more easily.

I stopped making hard boiled eggs recently because of the cost, but when I did, the small amount of vinegar helped peel the shells more easily.
[/quote]

Joking right?
A dozen eggs are still less than a dozen shiners.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I stopped making hard boiled eggs recently because of the cost, but when I did, the small amount of vinegar helped peel the shells more easily.

Joking right?
A dozen eggs are still less than a dozen shiners.

[/quote] he dont use live bait……just $35.00 apiece raps and bucktails and spinner baits.

we dont go through many eggs…….but my wife likes to bake so… hard boiled eggs whatever my wife does works pretty good!!!

Eelpoutguy wrote:

I stopped making hard boiled eggs recently because of the cost, but when I did, the small amount of vinegar helped peel the shells more easily.

Joking right?
A dozen eggs are still less than a dozen shiners.

[/quote]

and many other things!!! $6.00 a dozen means 2 eggs are $1.. cheap meal!!

The only 2 live bait shops remotely near me closed last year and the year before, so live bait isn’t really an option.

I still eat eggs, just not hard boiled.

wife bought this thing for hard boiling eggs on amazon. It holds 6 eggs it has a tool one end is for the amount of water to put in it (about 1/2 cup) the other end has a thing to poke a hole in the end. Plug it in and less then 15 minutes you have perfect eggs that the shell peels right off.

fishingstar wrote:

wife bought this thing for hard boiling eggs on amazon. It holds 6 eggs it has a tool one end is for the amount of water to put in it (about 1/2 cup) the other end has a thing to poke a hole in the end. Plug it in and less then 15 minutes you have perfect eggs that the shell peels right off.

I have one of those and the eggs still can be hard to peel

fishingstar wrote:

wife bought this thing for hard boiling eggs on amazon. It holds 6 eggs it has a tool one end is for the amount of water to put in it (about 1/2 cup) the other end has a thing to poke a hole in the end. Plug it in and less then 15 minutes you have perfect eggs that the shell peels right off.

I have one of those also and it’s amazing, tells you how long for doneness (is that a word?) but they cook a soft boiled egg to perfection.
But a fresh egg will never peal EZ.

There’s previously been a thread on this.

Air fryer makes perfect eggs every time. I’ll have to find my notes for the temp and time.
DT

deertracker wrote:

Air fryer makes perfect eggs every time. I’ll have to find my notes for the temp and time.
DT

Very interested in this.

BigWerm wrote:

The real egg riddle is why in one sitting can I eat 2-3 fried eggs, but 4-6 if they are scrambled eggs, and unlimited amounts of deviled eggs? Like I honestly don’t know how many because they run out before I stop eating them.

HA! This is so true. I could plow through a whole tray of deviled eggs and ask for seconds. It’s also a good if you want to be left alone for a day.

ThunderLund78 wrote:

It’s also a good if you want to be left alone for a day.

LMAO

5 minutes in a InstaPot than put in water with ice cubes. Easy to peal.

Slabtown wrote:

What seems to work best for me is to get the water boiling, then put the eggs in for 13 minutes, then dunk them in cold water. I used to start them in cold water all the time and had a harder time peeling them. Putting them straight into boiling water seems to work much better no matter the age of the egg.

I might try this because I cant stand staring at the pot and trying to figure out if its fully boiling or not to turn the water off.

Only thing that I have found is using eggs that have to be at least 2 weeks in fridge. I have only tried about a dozen of other methods including many gadjets they might work a few times but if you have fresh eggs eventually they will be hard to peel.

lunker2 wrote:

5 minutes in a InstaPot than put in water with ice cubes. Easy to peal.

I will agree with this 100 percent, will add let pressure off right away and older eggs are better.