Hard-boiled Eggs

[bearbait]

What is it with Hard-boiled Eggs these days?

I seem to recall that in ye goode olde dayes one could peel the shell from the egg in a couple of small pieces and 3 or 4 large pieces. All done in a few seconds.

These days I seem to have to spend, perhaps, up to a minute or so peeling off small pieces of shell - sometimes with the white still attached to the piece of shell - to eventually get one ready to eat.

Is it due to the diet the chickens are on? The intensive rearing? Lack of diversity within the breeds?

It seems that the bond between the shell, the inner membrane and the egg itself has changed to the detriment of the users - me!

BTW, I do try to buy decent eggs sourced from happy(ish) chickens.

Grrr...

 

[William_Montgomery]

It's often to do with how fresh the egg is. Fresher eggs are a pain to peel, leave them for a couple of weeks and they peel a lot easier.

 

[Pattree]

Peel them under a cold running tap. I suppose that a bowl of water might work in a similar way but I’ve never tried that.

I cannot tell you the principle whereby running water between shell and egg released it but it works. Even when you’ve mashed the shell to fragments, they stay stuck to the membrane (mostly) Try it.

 

[TeeDee]

What is it with Hard-boiled Eggs these days?

I seem to recall that in ye goode olde dayes one could peel the shell from the egg in a couple of small pieces and 3 or 4 large pieces. All done in a few seconds.

These days I seem to have to spend, perhaps, up to a minute or so peeling off small pieces of shell - sometimes with the white still attached to the piece of shell - to eventually get one ready to eat.

Is it due to the diet the chickens are on? The intensive rearing? Lack of diversity within the breeds?

It seems that the bond between the shell, the inner membrane and the egg itself has changed to the detriment of the users - me!

BTW, I do try to buy decent eggs sourced from happy(ish) chickens.

Grrr...

How are you boiling them?
Do you boil and THEN remove to the side?
Or boil them then stick in water?
Or do you boil them and then leave them in the water but off the boil?

I think there is a technique of adding a little vinegar which is supposed to make it easier.

 

[Glow_worm]

Arrgh! And boiling eggs is supposed to be the simplest, straightforward, foolproof first step in learning to cook!

 

[TeeDee]

Arrgh! And boiling eggs is supposed to be the simplest, straightforward, foolproof first step in learning to cook!

Take a breath.

 

[Glow_worm]

Save the aggro, scramble them. Just as good cold as boilies.

 

[Stew]

Have you tried the technique where you pinch the end of the shell off where there’s the air bubble then put the egg to your lips and blow hard? The shell pops off.



I first saw that demonstrated by a chef where I used to work.

On eggs that were going out to guests.

I never ate hard boiled eggs there again.

 

[Pattree]

Arrgh! And boiling eggs is supposed to be the simplest, straightforward, foolproof first step in learning to cook!

You think?

From this week’s copy of my Beeno comic*

Now, Ernesto Di Maio at the University of Naples, Italy, and his colleagues have found a better way to evenly boil an egg, by swapping it between boiling water and 30°C (86°F) water every two minutes for eight cycles, taking a total of 32 minutes.

* aka New Scientist.

 

[Glow_worm]

Evidence if ever needed about the abundance of silly degree courses!

 

[Pattree]

I think that you’ll find he’s a bit more than a PhD student.

Ernesto Di Maio

University of Naples Federico II - Cited by 5,322 - Polymer Foams

scholar.google.co.uk

 

[Glow_worm]

Now leading a team on a two year research project into the optimal way to heat a tin of baked beans....

 

[MrEd]

we eat a lot of boiled eggs in my family, good protein source as a ‘fill you up healthy snack’ rather than junk food.

We boil whole box of 12 in one go and then drop them straight from boiling into cold water, leave to cool and peel, don’t have any issues with peeling.
I do notice the shells are thinner and weaker than they used to be I think.

 

[bearbait]

How are you boiling them?
Do you boil and THEN remove to the side?
Or boil them then stick in water?
Or do you boil them and then leave them in the water but off the boil?

The same way I have done for years:
Bring to the boil from cold; simmer for 8 minutes; drain and cover with cold water until cool; eat one and put the rest in the fridge so they're even colder when I try to peel them.

-

Some good ideas elsewhere in the thread, ta. I shall give them a go....

 

[TeeDee]

The same way I have done for years:
Bring to the boil from cold; simmer for 8 minutes; drain and cover with cold water until cool; eat one and put the rest in the fridge so they're even colder when I try to peel them.

-

Some good ideas elsewhere in the thread, ta. I shall give them a go....

Well - I'm not saying there is a right or wrong way but I put in the pan from Cold - bring to the boil and then once bubbling away , take the eggs out and leave to cool off on a plate - no water.

 

[Brizzlebush]

You think?

From this week’s copy of my Beeno comic*



* aka New Scientist.

Well, I can see that Ernesto is an eminent scientist and has lots of important papers that use big words, so that's nice.

My questions are, regarding egg boiling, why this convoluted method?
It's quoted as being "a more even method". Why does it need to be more even?
I suspect it was to prove the properties of something else?

Awful long time to wait for a boiled egg.
Given that timeframe he'd probably take 2hrs to make the toast!

It had better be good after that wait!

 

[Pattree]

When I was still at school New Scientist (Or Scientific American - can’t remember) covered the optimal sequence for making three slices of toast under a grill.

I think that Di Meio is more interested in the simultaneous coagulation of dissimilar proteins but maybe it was indeed just a leisurely breakfast.

I can imagine the newspaper headline though:

TAXPAYER FUNDS BOFFIN’S ALL DAY BREAKFAST

 

[Brizzlebush]

When I was still at school New Scientist (Or Scientific American - can’t remember) covered the optimal sequence for making three slices of toast under a grill.

I think that Di Meio is more interested in the simultaneous coagulation of dissimilar proteins but maybe it was indeed just a leisurely breakfast.

I can imagine the newspaper headline though:

I think Heston Blumenthal has a thing or two to say about eggs.

A very curiously and scientific approach to "the application of sciences and engineering to study the physical, chemical, and biochemical nature of foods and the principles of food processing".

His epic "perfect scrambled eggs" wasn't a 3 min microwave job, you'll be unsurprised to learn.
It looked quite nice.

Mind you, butter makes everything better.

 

[HillBill]

Does no one poke a small hole in the bottom before boiling? It stops any chance of them cracking. Watched a Jacques Pepin video years ago. I now boil them as he suggests and they come out perfect.

I know they're only eggs, but i found the vid interesting.

 

[Pattree]

I haven’t watched Last of the Summer Wine much for decades. Not since Blamire (Peter Bates?) left but as I channel hopped, I did hear a closing comment yesterday:

Cookery will never replace good food.