The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 97

Q:Isthereatricktogettingtheshelloffahard-boiled
eggwithoutmutilatingthewhite?
I’vetriedeverymethodknowntoman,tickingthemoffone
at a time. Shocking the eggs in ice water? It makes no
difference.Pokingaholeintheshellsbeforecookingthem?
Nope, sorry. Steaming or pressure-cooking them? Nuh-uh.
Adding vinegar to the water?All that does is dissolve the
outermostlayerofshell.

Eggsloweredintoboilingwaterorhotsteamhavethebest
chanceofpeelingeasily.


Eggsslowlyheatedincoldwaterwillsticktotheirshells.
In fact, I discovered that the only thing that really seems
to make a difference is the initial cooking phase. Drop the
eggs into hot water, and they’ll peel pretty easily (though
even this doesn’t work 100percentofthetime).Heatthem
upslowly,startingwithcoldwater,andtheeggproteinswill
endupfusedtotheinsideoftheshell.
Asfarastheactualpeelingprocess,theeasiestwayisto
peel the still-hot eggs under cool running water, starting
fromthefatend,wheretheairpocketislocated.Whenthe
eggsarehot,theconnectionbetweenthemembraneandegg
white is weaker, making it easier to remove the shell.The
cool water not only helps gently dislodge stubborn bits of
shell,italsopreventsyourfingersfromgettingburned.Iput
a fine-mesh strainer or colander in the sink to catch the
shells,foreasycleanup.