Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation What’s the secret(s) to hard boiled eggs that peel properly

Lots of hard boiled eggs around here lately,

Some peel so nice, others a thousand little pieces of shell and even pulls some of the egg away,

Don’t know why,,

Tips?

Older eggs peel easier.

add salt to water

Wifey says slow boil and quick cooling. Ice water helps.

Are we talking , pre or post hot-tub age?

This thread is gonna have legs..

Someone else mentioned vinegar, didn’t seem to make a difference,

We will try salt, Thanks.

Did you mean wings?

I use baking soda, suggestion from my sister that owned a deli and she was doing dozens of eggs every day for salads.

Details please, how much baking soda?

Pre, like they've been around for a while before cooking.

Instant pots work great. Wife loves what hers does.

Pressure cooker for three minutes, quickly release (giggity) then cool under running water.

60% of the time it works every time.

I do all mine the same way
Put the eggs in a pan, cover with plain tap water,
Bring to a boil ,turn the burner down to a slow
boil, barely bubbling for about 6-10 minutes.
Can't eat runny eggs myself.
Let em cool as is.
I either put em in the refrigerator for later use,
or they get holes poked in em and go in the
pickling brine
When I get ready to peel one, I rinse it under
the sink spigot. I've never had to add any extra
anything to the water, or use any special gadgetry.
Only water in a pan on the stove
When I peel, I start it at the air pocket on the big end.
Nary a problem most all the time

Let the eggs sit out on the counter for two days prior to cooking. Enzymes in the egg partially digest the membrane allowing easy peeling and no sticking.

Used to pull them from the pan, crack them, then into ice water.
It helped.


Now, 5 min under pressure in the insta-pot, 5 min natural cool.
Release pressure, into ice water.

Never any issue at all, no matter how fresh the eggs.

A normal pressure cooker would obviously work, and it's what I'd now use
if we didn't have the insta-pot. Never knew how well pressure cooking
them worked before.

bring the water to a boil before you put the eggs in. put them in, can't remember how many minutes off the top of my head. have a bowl of ice water ready take the eggs straight from the pot into the ice water, once they cool off they peel easily. I do it like this when I make pickled eggs.

I also use baking soda, add about 2 teaspoons to water that covers 5/6 eggs......... start with room temp water

Boil for 6/8 minutes, drain water, shake eggs in the pot to crack them, cover with tap water and start peeling....

soaking in ice water also helps, but I like to eat them still hot...........

That kind of honesty could be attached to most advice given here at the 'fire.

I couldnt get it right for years. But the slow cook and the ice bath works for me generally.
Even then occasionally I get one that will give me a headache. I sometimes think it may be many factors , the egg, your water and the cooking and cooling style. What works for some doesn't work for others. I tried ay least five “sure fire” methods before I found one that works best for me.
My method is to bring the water to a boil with the eggs in the water. Once it boils turn off the stove and cover for 7-8 minutes depending on how cooked you want them. At 7 minutes I put the eggs in an ice water bath to cool.