The Definitive Guide on How to Peel an Egg

It sounds so easy, so simple. Peel an egg. I am a home economist and an avid home cook. I have peeled a lot of eggs but when I took on the challenge to make pickled eggs for an organic farmer friend, I had no idea of the challenge that lay ahead.

I have lost count of how many eggs I have peeled but it is in the neighbourhood of at least 100 dozen. That's 1200 freaking eggs! Even with easy peeling eggs this is a lot of eggs! What was I thinking when I said yes I would help him out?

His organically raised free range hens produce an egg with a very hard shell. I swear you could drop it and it wouldn't break. Under that hard shell is a very tough membrane. Producing picture perfect peeled eggs has been a learning curve. Here is the system I use ...

Step 1   Do not use fresh eggs. Stale work better.

Step 2   Place eggs in a pan of cold tap water.

Step 3   Heat to boiling and turn off heat. Let sit in hot water with lid on for 12 minutes.

Step 4   Forcefully dump eggs into sink so they will crack. If all eggs do not crack, crack them. The more they are cracked the better.

Step 5   Place in ice cold water and let soak for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Step 6   Using a stainless steel spoon peel the eggs. Be sure to get under the membrane and gently move the spoon around so the shell is loosened from the egg. If you use a silver spoon it will become very tarnished very quickly. The air sac is usually on the blunt end of the egg and this is a good place to start.