I bought a bag of very small quartz-like rocks from Dollar Tree. I plan to use them for a craft project I have in mind. I found another use for the rocks before ever starting my project, keeping eggs upright while boiling.
I put just enough rocks into the bottom of a saucepan to stand the eggs on. After placing the eggs on the rocks, I add more rocks to cover at least the bottom two-thirds of the eggs. When I fill the pan with water, the eggs will remain upright and stationary. Works beautifully.
Do I plan to drag out these rocks every time I boil eggs? Of course not. The rocks were just an experiment. I wanted to see if I could come up with something from around the house to hold my eggs upright while I am waiting for a nice little wire basket from Amazon. The basket will hold seven eggs in an upright position while they are being boiled.
The eggs are going to taste the same, and perform the same, whether they remain upright while cooking or not. So, why bother? Well, I'll tell you. I made a discovery in my quest for the perfect way to peel boiled eggs.
I'm sure you know, peeling eggs easily requires that the membrane between the shell and the egg white will release from the white readily. And the best way to make that happen is to get water between the membrane and the egg white.
Cracking the eggs all over is easy. I usually roll them on the divider between the sink bowls. The next step can sometimes be a hassle. That is, picking away a part of the shell and hoping the membrane comes with it. Too often the membrane is stuck solid.
I did the experiment with the rocks to see if keeping the eggs upright while boiling would cause one large air pocket at the upright end of the egg rather than the air space being evenly distributed around the egg. It did.
As a result, I could easily pick away shell and membrane from the tip of the egg. I did one quick bang against the sink divider to start the shell cracking. Then while holding the eggs under running water, I rolled the eggs briskly between my palms to complete the cracking process.
Using this method, about half of the eggs peeled very easily. The other half? The shell slid off the eggs while I was rolling them between my palms. I didn't even have to peel them.
Another advantage of keeping eggs upright is that the yolk will always be centered. Often, the yolk will migrate to near the shell. This doesn't matter if you are making egg salad. But it can be hard to slice boiled eggs when one area of the white is paper thin. The slice usually crumbles. We want our egg slices atop our holiday platter of potato salad to be uniform and aesthetically pleasing, don't we?
This is my last egg peeling tip for 2017. Any more and I'll be tied for number of posts with 'How Soon Can I Re Dye My Hair'.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
Since submitting this post, I have boiled eggs twice more while they were in an upright position. Twice more, while being held under running water, they peeled more easily than ever before. I hope to get feedback with results of you trying this method. I'm kinda excited about having learned this little trick.
That's a great idea!! I'll have to try it.
Thanks, LG
The rack I ordered from Amazon should be here in a couple of days. Just $7.49. It's supposed to be made of heavy stainless steel.
Another good thing about centered egg yolks - deviled eggs. How often do you make deviled eggs and the yolk is so close to the white that you have a white so thin you can hardly contain the deviled egg mixture?
Great idea. Thank you. I also loved your comment on the re-dyed hair posts! So I learned something today and got a good chuckle to boot.
Good point about the deviled eggs. Hadn't thought about that. My egg holder thingy is supposed to arrive today. Can't wait to try it.
Anybody ever heard of hard steamed eggs? You have now.
My egg rack, which is designed for steaming eggs, arrived yesterday. Silly me, I dismissed the fact that it was for steaming eggs, not boiling.
The eggs kept rolling around in the water and would not stay upright. I had to remove enough of the water so that only about a fourth of the egg bottoms were covered. In essence, I steamed the eggs.
Once peeled, the eggs were indistinguishable from boiled eggs. Good. But for the life of me, I can't see why anyone would intentionally steam eggs.
I made some good egg salad from the recipe here on ThriftyFun. And while I'm eating an egg salad sandwich, I'm eating my own words. I will go back to the rocks. They're no more trouble than weighing down a pie crust with beans.
The tip remains the same. Eggs boiled in an upright position are much easier to peel, especially when rolling them between your palms under running water. Most every shell comes off in one piece.
Something else I learned. No matter how you peel an egg, the longer it's cooked, the more difficult it is to peel. So, don't cook your eggs any longer than how you want them. That includes leaving them in the hot water they were boiled in. (Pardon my grammar).
Very interesting! My Instant Pot pressure cooker is supposed to be very good for making hard-cooked eggs. I bet they are steamed in the process. I will have to try it soon and report back.
I have also cooked eggs in my oven before. They turned out fine too, but the grease from my not perfectly clean oven spattered the shells. Fine for peeling, less good for Easter eggs.
I'm sure your eggs would be steamed in the Instant Pot. The wire rack I bought is for steaming eggs and it is designed to be used with an Instant Pot.
I have an instant Pot. The eggs are pressure cooked for 5 minutes, then you let the pot sit for 5 minutes,then release the pressure and put them in ice water for 5 minutes. They come out perfect and peel so easily. You can make as few or as many as you want.
I got my Instant Pot partially because of your delicious sounding recipes, Judy. And all my friends who have one rave about it. So far, so good. :)
I love having boiled eggs on hand, and recently I've been baking them. I put a dozen eggs (room temperature) in a muffin pan (no water), and bake at 325 for 30 minutes. When cooled, I crack and roll them between my hands, and then peel them under running water.
Sometimes the eggs would crack when I boiled them in water, but so far, none have by using the oven method.
Very smart! You get my vote!
Never heard of this before, but it sure is a smart idea. Thanks for the suggestion.
"But for the life of me, I can't see why anyone would intentionally steam eggs"
Doug, it's not so much the steam. With these new fangled cookers, they can be cooked more quickly under pressure. The steam is just a by product.
Add your voice! Click below to comment. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
