# Why are my eggs exploding?



## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

I'm terrible at making boiled eggs, apparently. They always blow up in the boiling water! Which doesn't matter too much if I'm making egg salad, but we've decided we're into pickled eggs, and they need to be reasonably whole for that. Am I doing something wrong? I put the eggs in cold water with salt, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer/boil until they are done the way I want them.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Do you puncture the large end? I use an egg piercer and never have cracked eggs. 
Mine looks like this, but it is round (and didn't cost half this). http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-Egg-P...pebp=1434820583697&perid=0VK17RCYSR16YJQX4N3D

You can use a darning needle, but I tended to pierce too deep with that method.


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

I've never even heard of puncturing them first! I'll try that next time, I definitely have a darning needle. Supposed to do it just barely through the shell, right?


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

Bring them up to boil slower. I have gone to steaming mine and they very seldom break open that way. Life is too short to carefully poke a hole in each and every egg, IMHO.


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## my3boys (Jan 18, 2011)

I start with eggs in cold water, in a single layer, with just enough water to cover them. Turn to med-high,and heat just until they come to a rapid boil. As soon as they start to boil I cover them, remove from heat and let them sit for about 15-20 minutes. Less if you want them soft boiled. This is for large eggs. Drain and cool by filling pan with cold water. May need to do that a time or two.

I learned this from an old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Don't know if they still recommend it, but I have had very few cracked eggs over the years. Make sure you don't let them boil for more than a few seconds.


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

I use a push pin (the thumb tack kind of thing) to pierce the large end of the eggs, and it goes to just the right depth. 

I have also gone to steaming them (I still add a little white vinegar to the water), and have a lot fewer problems with cracked/exploded eggs.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I think that older eggs have seperated a bit, the whites more liquid , and thus creating more gas pressure when boiled. That is very fresh eggs are harder to peel. Venting them releases the pressure.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

This thread made me hungry for deviled eggs.

Cold water, salt, eggs. Slowly bring to a boil. Off heat for 12 minutes covered. Cold water (I use some ice) till they are cooled.

Half and put yokes in a bowl. Mustard, pickle relish, salt, pepper and mayo. Stuff and then some paprika on the top for garnish and a bit of flavor.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

They were good. Perfectly cooked eggs.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

for fresh layed eggs I have the water boiling "before " adding the eggs then I use a spoon to slowly add each egg to avoid cracking the shell at putting them in make sure the water is boiling as you put each egg in . this makes them easy to peel


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Lots of good suggestions - thank you! I will do some experimenting and see what works best for me.  Sounds like the culprit is heating them too quickly without giving the pressure some way to vent. I can deal with that now that I know what the problem is.


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## ChefSufficient (May 25, 2015)

The real key here is to not actually BOIL the eggs...

Start with cold water, single layer of eggs, just enough water to cover...

Bring the water up to a simmer with the pot UNCOVERED. Just enough until you see small bubbles and the water shimmering. Put a lid on the pot and turn OFF the heat. If you have an electric range, take the pot completely off the burner...

Keep the pot covered anywhere from 9-20 mins, depending on your target doneness...

The real concept to understand here is that whites and yolks coagulate at different temperatures. Whites start coagulating at 140 degrees and yolks at 158. If you can hit the top end of that 158 gently, without going too far over, for too long, the result is a gently cooked egg with softer, better textured whites... 

Realizing that water boils at 212 degrees, you can see how easily we tend to aggressively overshoot that 158 mark, and end up with dry, dusty, pale white or green yolks and rubbery whites...

Also, some tips for peeling...

Move your finished eggs directly to an ice bath or at least dump the warm water and put running cold water into the pot while you peel. Crack both ends of the egg then make multiple small cracks around the sides of the egg. Start peeling the top of the egg, and try to find a spot where you can get under both the shell AND membrane. A little of the running cold water on the egg after you cracked it helps to lubricate the membrane under the shell and gives you a little assistance. then work in a circular motion around the egg, working down and with a little practice, you should be able to get the shell off easily and in one piece/ribbon...

If you've done the cooking properly, it should make everything else after that much easier. Cheers and good luck!


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## my4fireflies (Sep 3, 2014)

I could never get it right either so I have gone to baking them in the shell. I use a muffin pan, put one egg in each cup. Put in a preheated oven at 325 for 30 min. Submerge in ice water. Voila!


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

Ok. so we use an electric pressure cooker.

I put between 1 and 2 cups of water in the pot. Drop in a vegetable steamer, the steel kind that fold in and out. I put between 10-20 eggs or so. Set. the cooker to high for 5 or 6 minutes. The vent has to be closed. It takes about 10 minutes to get to pressure, then the minutes I set it for cooking. Then, I release the pressure with the vent. Open the lid, and turn it off (it goes to keep warm on it's own).

I either let them sit and cool. Or, I use cold water to cool them if I'm in a rush.

But, the really good parts of this method, is it basically idiot proofs the process. Also, frequently, they are done perfectly without any greying of the yolk. Occassionally one or two ruptures though.

The very best perk is that, peeling them is an absolute dream. The shells basically fall off in huge chunks after just cracking the shells with an easy hit on a bowl or sink edge or the counter.

The electric pressure cookers aren't cheap. Mine have been about $100. But, oh my goodness, we use it all the time for stuff that is much harder and slower to make using more traditional methods.


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

Forgot to add that the pressure cooker uses a lot less power than some other methods, and it doesn't heat my kitchen near as much as the stove top method.


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## melco (May 7, 2006)

I haven't read all the comments but try steaming them. They peel like a dream with this method as well.


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

ChefSufficient said:


> If you have an electric range, take the pot completely off the burner...


Do you mean the glass top electric or the spiral wire electric? Or are they basically the same?
Seemed to me that the spiral wire took longer to cool than the glass top. 
Never used an open flame stove, too much risk involved with them for us. 

Thanks.


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## Vickivail98 (Sep 26, 2014)

I make hard boiled eggs every single week for lunches. Bring a decent sized pot with 1" water in it to a boil. Fill your steamer basket with COLD eggs and put in. Cover and steam 16 min for pullet eggs up to 20 minutes for duck eggs. After cooking time cool eggs in cold water immediately. Will last up to 7 days in the shell if they don't crack (about 1 in 12 of mine do) or you can shell them immediately and store them In water in the fridge, change water daily. Done like this it seems to make no difference how old the eggs are. Peeling is a dream!!!


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## SmartAZ (Sep 17, 2006)

PERFECT HARD BOILED EGGS

Freeze some ice cubes.

Lower your eggs straight from the fridge into already-boiling water, or place them in a steamer insert in a covered pot steaming at full blast on the stove top. If boiling, lower the heat to the barest simmer. Cook the eggs for 11 minutes for hard or 6 minutes for soft. Serve. Or, if serving cold, shock them in ice water immediately. Let them chill in that water for at least 15 minutes, or better yet, in the fridge overnight. Peel under cool running water.

No baking, no pricking, no tricks, no gimmicks, that's it.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html


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## JohnP (Sep 1, 2010)

I always assumed the ones that cracked had larger air gaps in the end that old eggs tend to get. Air expands when Heated.


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