# boiling chicken eggs...



## Two Tracks (Jul 13, 2013)

Hello Homesteaders, I am wondering about the "secret" of hard boiling fresh farm eggs so that when peeled, comes off nicely, not sticking to whites... I boiled some that were a week old and they stuck horribly so the eggs weren't nice looking, thou I pickled them and they were delicious. I'm having relatives over and thought I'd make up some deviled eggs, but am recalling my earlier episode. Egg council says to "poke a hole" at bottom of egg! Now I know if there is a crack along the shell that the whites spew out, so I'm thinking the same would happen. Any advice from you pro's? Thanks a bunch ~Chris


----------



## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

I leave my eggs, when we had our birds before we moved recently, on the counter, especially if they are going to be boiled. I'll make a point of setting aside a dozen or however many, and let them sit there for at least a week or two. Two is best. As long as you do not wash them, they'll be fine.
Then put them in the cold water, turn on the heat, and as soon as they hit a good boil, I turn off the heat and let them sit for at least 20 minutes.
Plop them into cold water, and cross your fingers when you start peeling! LOL!
Actually this works the best of all the methods I've tried.
Good luck!


----------



## Grumpy old man (Aug 6, 2013)

Older eggs should be easier to peel when boiled , I place eggs in pot and then bring water to a boil then turn heat off and let sit for 15 minutes seems to work great for me .


----------



## Ardie/WI (May 10, 2002)

Over the years, there have been a good many threads on this very topic.

Do a search and you will find a good many great suggestions!


----------



## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

I try never to boil really fresh eggs, but sometimes I have to. I find that bringing the water to a boil, then putting in room temp eggs, then boil for 14 mins, then put in ice water immediately works for me. It helps if you peel them shortly after they're cooled.


----------



## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

Boil a week old eggs if possible, put a little vinegar and a couple pinches of salt in the water----boil for about 10 minutes, remove from the heat. let set in the vinegar water till they cool down enough to handle. Works great for Me/Wife.


----------



## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

See, the whole letting the eggs age thing doesn't cut it for me. Defeats the whole purpose of having chickens for truly fresh eggs imo.

I've tried pretty much everything. Steaming, baking in the shell (the worst!), vinegar in the water, baking soda in the water...all to no avail.

What works for me is poking a little hole in the air sac end (I use a corn cob holder thingie), boil using your fave method re: temp of water at starting, how long...It doesn't really matter as long as they get cooked..when they are cooked drain, fill the pot with cold water and let them sit in the cold water for a half hour or so. break open at the wide end..it works great even on hour old eggs.


----------



## Two Tracks (Jul 13, 2013)

Ok Wow~ Thanks for your input's... I like Tiempo's... hummm I've always been one to take different advice's and sort out between and come up with a strategy so I think I'll take eggs out of fridge now, some are week old, some today... I'll poke tiny hole in bubble end of egg, start with cool water and when it boils I'll turn off burner and let set for 20 min, run under cold water and get ta pickin' shell. If Deviled eggs don't turn out we'll have egg salad on cressants (better buy the cressants ahead -hee hee) Thank you's ~Chris


----------



## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

Don't just run them under cold water, let them sit is a cold water bath for at least a half hour.


----------



## Ardie/WI (May 10, 2002)

I have had good luck bringing the eggs to room temperature and then putting them in a pan of cold water with a blib of vinegar. I bring them to boiling and then simmer them for 14-15 minutes.

About 5 minutes before they're done, I fill my sink with cold water and lotsa ice cubes. Then, I take them out of the hot water and into the ice water and swish, swish, swish them around until they're cold. They sit in the cold water a while. I think its the shock of hot eggs meeting COLD water makes them shed their shell easier.


----------



## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I just tried hard boiling my fresh (two day old) DUCK eggs using the method Tiempo mentioned. I put a little hole in the air cell end of my eggs, then hard boiled by putting them in cold water, bringing to a boil and letting the boil for about 12 minutes. Then I ran cold water over them until they were almost cool (I was in a hurry for lunch). For the FIRST time ever, I was able to peel a hard boiled duck egg (fresh or old) easily and neatly!! I'm very excited about that! (BTW duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs and take longer to hard boil). 

I didn't even let them sit, just grabbed the warm eggs and peeled away. Now I can have deviled duck eggs! I'm pretty sure I read the method here, probably Tiempo to start with!  So, thanks and I highly recommend trying this.


----------



## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

Ardie/WI said:


> . I think its the shock of hot eggs meeting COLD water makes them shed their shell easier.


there is actually a word for that in Germany : abschrecken, which basically means 'scare' with cold water ! 
I say scare them out of their skins!
I go a.step further and shake the pan all up so the shells break before adding the ice cold water ,some fall right out sometimes.
I have never tried the tiempo method bit I will !


_Posted from Homesteadingtoday.com App for Android_


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

I take fresh eggs, put them in cold water, salt and 2 TBS of vinegar, bring to full rolling boil, turn off heat, leave the lid on. 15 minutes. Plunge in cold ice water for 1 min. Crack bottom of egg, making sure you are under the membrane. I like my morning eggs, sliced in half, warm enough to melt the butter, with Mrs. Dash. 2 please. I eat 6 eggs a day in one way or another. In sandwich spread on crackers, pickled, in potato salad....James


----------



## VA Susan (Mar 2, 2010)

I steam mine for 20 minutes in a collapsible steamer in a saucepan standing in a little water. It usually works for day old eggs and older but not usually for the fresh ones. I make extras so I have enough pretty ones for deviled eggs.


----------



## madness (Dec 6, 2006)

GrannyCarol said:


> I just tried hard boiling my fresh (two day old) DUCK eggs using the method Tiempo mentioned. I put a little hole in the air cell end of my eggs, then hard boiled by putting them in cold water, bringing to a boil and letting the boil for about 12 minutes. Then I ran cold water over them until they were almost cool (I was in a hurry for lunch). For the FIRST time ever, I was able to peel a hard boiled duck egg (fresh or old) easily and neatly!! I'm very excited about that! (BTW duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs and take longer to hard boil).
> 
> I didn't even let them sit, just grabbed the warm eggs and peeled away. Now I can have deviled duck eggs! I'm pretty sure I read the method here, probably Tiempo to start with!  So, thanks and I highly recommend trying this.


How odd...I was going to say 'get ducks - you never have problems peeling their eggs!' No matter how fresh, I just boil the eggs and peel. I never even bother hard boiling chicken eggs any more since there is so much trouble.

By the way, not only do I think duck eggs always are easy to peel but nothing beats the super smooth creamy texture of the yolk. Awesome!


----------



## parrotman (Jan 27, 2008)

Here is a picture of a *PEELED*, hard cooked egg. This egg was laid this morning, gathered and brought into the house and refrigerated. Tonight I cooked it along with 11 others.
I bring a pot of water to a boil...add a splash of salt...immerse the COLD egg into the boiling water, set timer for 15 minutes...13 minutes for bantam eggs...18 minutes for duck eggs.
When time is up, drain and immediately put into a bowl of ICE water. Once the ice melts I allow the cold water from the sink to flush the eggs until they are cold.
Refrigerate for an hour or longer and peel without a problem!


----------



## Two Tracks (Jul 13, 2013)

Thanks for all your input... I will also add the vinegar...why vinegar? just wondering ~Chris


----------



## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

We have ducks too but I found their eggs as tricky as chicken eggs to peel before. 

Seems from everyone's experience in this thread that shocking the hot cooked eggs with cold water is the common denominator for success.


----------



## Raeven (Oct 11, 2011)

Steam them. Steam them, steam them, steam them. Then shock them in ice water. 

The cold, ice water shock is to stop the cooking process so that they don't develop that ugly dark blue sulfur ring. It does not aid in the peeling process in any way. 

I'm serious... steam them once, and you'll never go back to boiling. Doesn't matter if they're fresh out of the chicken -- it works. 

I usually steam for about 13 minutes.


----------



## ufo_chris (Apr 30, 2010)

Tiempo said:


> We have ducks too but I found their eggs as tricky as chicken eggs to peel before.
> 
> Seems from everyone's experience in this thread that shocking the hot cooked eggs with cold water is the common denominator for success.


yes ,my duck eggs are harder to peel than the chicken ones also!



_Posted from Homesteadingtoday.com App for Android_


----------



## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I found that shocking the duck eggs really didn't work, but putting that little hole in the end before boiling them sure did! That's the only thing that has worked for me yet with them.


----------



## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

I steam them for 17 minutes for hard cooked, then right into cold water.


----------

