One of our friends sent us a video the other day, showing exactly how to boil and peel an egg.
He said it should help us out this Thanksgiving. Now, if you are a follower of these columns, you might recall the difficulty we ran into about this time last year when we were to supply the deviled eggs for the family Thanksgiving dinner. The first problem was to determine how many eggs to cook. I think I told Miz Jo we better shoot for 25 people at two eggs a piece. So, we boiled 50 eggs. It was only after I was peeling the shell off the first egg and reaching for the paring knife to slice in half that it dawned on me that instead of 50 eggs, we were making a 100. Each whole egg makes two halves. Half an egg makes one deviled egg.
But the biggest problem we ran into was peeling the shells off the eggs. Some of them (not nearly enough) hulled right out slick as can be. Most of them seemed like the shells were glued to the egg.
But the biggest problem we ran into was peeling the shells off the eggs. Some of them (not nearly enough) hulled right out slick as can be. Most of them seemed like the shells were glued to the egg.
So, last year I wrote a column about our eggshell dilemma and several of you emailed suggestions on how to easily peel a boiled egg with little to no cussin’ involved. The tips ranged from cooking the eggs in water that was already at a rolling boil, to covering eggs in cold water and let them to come a boil, remove from heat, cover, and let them slow cook as they cooled.
There were also ideas of things to put in the water that would somehow soften the shells making them easier to peel. A pinch of baking soda comes to mind right off.
And then there is treatment of the eggs after they are boiled. Pouring the hot water off right away and dumping some trays of ice cubes over them seems to have been the most extreme. All the rest of the post-boil suggestions were lesser versions of that.
One thing Jo and I seem to have discovered is that older eggs peeled easier than newer eggs. So, we picked up about four dozen eggs around Halloween, so they could age. I’m sure the checkout girl at Walmart thought I intended to egg someone’s house.
Honestly, I don’t think it matters all that much how you boil the eggs. Cooking is cooking — slow warm up and long boil or dump them in hot water all at once. The cool down may not matter, either. However, I think I’m going to try the ice cube shock after pouring off the hot water and letting them chill about five minutes. Then we’ll see. Maybe we should just let someone else bring the deviled eggs next year.
So, for our Christmas dinner, I think we’ll just sign up to make the sweet tea.
