Here goes nothing…
Test 1: Salted vs unsalted water
Adding salt to boiling water is one popular theory on getting perfectly peeled eggs and it’s a simple enough technique to try out.
• Two pots of water were brought to a boil, one left plain, the other with the addition of 1 teaspoon salt.
• Once the water reached boiling point, the heat was turned off. Two eggs were added into each pot. The pots were then covered and left untouched for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, all eggs were cooled in an ice bath for a few minutes until the shell was cool to the touch.
• Upon peeling, it was discovered that eggs cooked in unsalted water was significantly easier to peel.
• The eggs cooked in salted water, on the other hand, had egg white that stuck to the shells, leaving quite a few pockmarks on its surface. In fact, one of the eggs almost fell apart as the whites took even longer to solidify.
Test 2: The shock method
The shock method posits that eggs are easier to peel when they are “shocked” i.e. placed directly into boiling water, cooked for the necessary length of time, then immediately transferred to an ice bath to cool.
To test this technique, we decided to conduct it using unrefrigerated fresh-from-the-supermarket eggs, as well as eggs that were refrigerated for five days.
To refine the theory, both types of eggs were also subjected to the cold-start and hot-start method.
Cold-start
The cold start method begins with eggs in a pot filled with room temperature water before the heat is turned on. The water is then brought to a boil and the eggs are kept on a rolling boil for as long as necessary. We boiled our eggs (uncovered) for 12 minutes.
The cold method subjects the eggs to one “shock” – when the boiled eggs are transferred into an ice bath to cool. This is what we found: All fresh cold start eggs peeled perfectly. The surface was smooth and the eggs were easy to peel.
Refrigerated cold-start eggs, on the other hand, did not fare well. Out of four eggs, one peeled perfectly; two had membranes that stuck a little to the egg white, scarring the surface of the egg; while one was quite difficult to peel, resulting in a very pock-marked egg.
Hot-start
For the hot-start technique, water is brought to a rolling boil first. Eggs were then added to the boiling water and left to cook (uncovered) for 12 minutes.
The hot start method subjects the eggs to two “shocks” – one when the eggs are added into the boiling water, and two, when the eggs are transferred to the ice bath to cool.
The first thing we noticed is that the hot-start eggs were more prone to cracking, which is not unusual when adding eggs of any temperature into very hot water.
The fresh eggs cracked quite a bit, and the cracks continues to become larger as the eggs moved around the pot and hit against each other in the water. This caused some deformity in the shape of the eggs as water seeped into the shell.
However, despite the deformities, the cracked eggs were still quite easy to peel, with a shiny, smooth surface.
To minimise the incidence of eggs bumping hard into each other, a colander was used when testing refrigerated eggs to reduce the pot’s surface area.
The eggs still moved, but the smaller surface area meant they did not bump into each other as much. As with the fresh eggs, some of the refrigerated eggs also cracked from the initial shock, but did not crack any further as it cooked.
Upon peeling, all except one refrigerated egg peeled perfectly and cleanly. For the egg that didn’t peel cleanly, the membrane stuck to the egg white just a little bit.
So what does this mean, eggsactly?
Simple: If you’re boiling fresh eggs – both the cold- and hot-start techniques work – just be sure to minimise the crack factor.
And if you’re boiling refrigerated eggs – the hot-start method is definitely the way to go, as long as you don’t forget to reduce the cracking risk.
The cracking risk
Surface area plays a key role in reducing the crack factor. Basically, use a small pot when boiling fewer eggs. Small cracks are fine and won’t affect the peeling process or the shape of the peeled eggs too much.
Using a colander insert can also reduce surface area if you don’t have a small pot
The peel
• Tap a cooked egg lightly but firmly on a hard surface to form initial cracks. You’ll want to create cracks all around the egg, which typically takes around four to six taps at different parts of the egg.
• Place the cracked egg under your palm, and then firmly but gently roll it to form finer cracks. One roll forward and back should suffice, but a couple more wouldn’t hurt if the first roll didn’t yield enough cracks.
This step also helps to loosen up and separate the membrane from the egg whites.
• Look for the largest piece of shell that seems to be sticking out, but don’t pluck it out yet.
• Submerge your cracked and rolled egg into a bowl of water or the ice bath, and start peeling your egg.
Peeling your egg in a bowl of water does three things: one, it “lubricates” the egg and makes it easier to peel; two, the eggs get rinsed at the same time; and three, all the eggshells gather in one place, making clean-up that much easier!
You can also peel the eggs under running water, but clean-up will be messier. Furthermore, if you’re peeling more than two or three eggs, you will be using a lot of water.
This article first appeared in butterkicap.com
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