Steam, Don't Boil
Monday, May 24, 2010 at 06:35AM I learned a great cooking trick from one of my Udall neighbors recently. Being born and raised on a farm I can't believe I had never heard of this trick. For years I had been plagued with the problem of peeling FRESH hard boiled eggs. It's impossible! Here's the trick my neighbor told me- Steam fresh eggs, don't boil them. Here's the reasoning behind it. Store bought eggs always peel well because they are old. Those eggs sit around for weeks before they ever hit a store shelf. Those eggs have had a chance for moisture to evaporate out of them. This pulls the membrane away from the shell of the egg making them easy to peel. Fresh eggs have not had a chance for any moisture to evaporate out. This is where steaming a fresh egg comes in. When you steam a fresh egg moisture can leave the egg during the cooking process. Boiling doesn't accomplish this because the egg is surrounded by water.
Reader Comments (7)
Interesting, very interesting!
Steam for how long?
I was never told how long. It may of been overkill but I steamed my eggs for 10 minutes. It worked.
The Mrs. will be pleased to know this. She's ready to stop boiling fresh eggs!
I just tried this and it works like a charm! They took about 13 minutes from the time the water started boiling. I guess it just depends on the size of your egg. Thanks, Heathers neighbor, for solving a long time problem.
What a great idea!! But, um, how do you steam eggs?
Just use a veggie steamer. It's an insert with holes in it that you can put inside a pot. The insert still enables a lid to be put on the pot. You then put an inch of water in your pot. Insert your steamer insert. Then put the eggs in the insert and put a lid on the pot.