Comments on Coffee Bean Goddess: Egg-ception to the Freshness Rule

My mother never said a word about fresh or old egg...

2009-08-21T06:33:43.856-07:00

My mother never said a word about fresh or old eggs. Like her I plop them in cold water and then boil them for 10-12 min under cold water when done.

I'm going to try John's method. Too much work to steam as I doubt I have a thing in the cupboard to use. Galley kitchen's are so limiting.

Boy, there's just no end to the variety of experie...

2009-08-20T18:51:48.801-07:00

Boy, there's just no end to the variety of experiences we've had, is there? Sorry about the thrown out batch of eggs, Kate. Gee, you should have made egg salad sammiches. (NOW I tell you.)You'll do fine with your last method of cooking, though. And I'll bet those weren't fresh eggs. (grin)

My mother never told me not to hard boil fresh egg...

2009-08-20T18:12:15.325-07:00

My mother never told me not to hard boil fresh eggs! Geesh! Wish I'd known that when I was surprising Jim with a huge birthday party and I was making deviled eggs. I threw the whole darn batch out when all of them had been eaten by hamsters! I didn't have time to mess around. When I mentioned that to my mother, she said: "Oh, you must have used fresh eggs"... Well gee, did ya forget to give your daughter a little tip there, Sunshine???

I also must relate that I cooked a few eggs last week - don't know if they were fresh or not (because nobody's told me about languishing on the bottom vs perky and upright, before)! lol But I had bought them 2 days prior. I put them in quite hot water, plopped them on the stove, brought them to a boil and turned off the heat, put the lid on and let them sit for 10 minutes. PERFECT! The shells fell right off and the eggs themselves, were tender and the yolks just right!

I'll probably never duplicate that again.

Thanks for all the info in these two posts, Dee! Can't wait to see more results!

PS: Whenever I've left the eggs to cool on the counter (like John) or placed them in the fridge - peeling is useless. Hamsters have gotten in, before me.

Paul, you slipped in there behind my back, darlin'...

2009-08-20T15:19:00.888-07:00

Paul, you slipped in there behind my back, darlin'. And, yup, given the egg production from your "girls," you'd have to be some kind of resident expert. I've never had gray yolks but I'll bet your yolks are a much brighter yellow than the store-bought ones. I'm assuming your hens get to eat bugs and stuff to enhance their diets. "Real" eggs, that's what you have. (smile)

Boy, you people are fast! And fairly merciless, I ...

2009-08-20T15:13:36.249-07:00

Boy, you people are fast! And fairly merciless, I might add. So much for my tentative plans to languish this afternoon. Sheesh.

Wolfie, are you talking about FRESH eggs? As for the ice water, as I said, it didn't matter. That wasn't ice water -- just tap water that had chilled while the egg was steaming. I probably could have gotten the same effect by letting the faucet run a bit.

John and Drew -- the longer waiting period has some interesting possibilities. John, it sounds like you didn't give them the cold water bath at all. Slower cool-down. Hmmm. The fast cool-down is supposed to stop the cooking, which is supposed to prevent overcooking, which is supposed to be a cause of rubbery whites and the obnoxious green ring around the yoke.

Oy! Assorted experiments are whirling around in my alleged brain. "What fresh hell is this?" if I may quote Dorothy Parker. I wonder if she ever cooked eggs.

Here, I get the water to a boil and put the eggs i...

2009-08-20T15:07:37.592-07:00

Here, I get the water to a boil and put the eggs in. With tongs on days that I'm sorta smart. Cut the heat, cover and simmer for 5 or 6 minutes. Then into ice water. Or at least under the cold water from the faucet.

Sometimes I forget to start the water and put the eggs in cold water. So, simmer for 10 minutes.

They peel. The yolks are yellow, not gray.

Fresh eggs? Uh, I'm collecting 18 to 20 eggs a day, I have 38 dozen in the fridge at the moment. I'll let you do the math as to how old my eggs are.

Am I understanding John correctly? That the eggs are boiled and just set out on a towel to cool, then to the fridge? That seems easier and saves ice and water.

As for off-center yolks when deviling, no problem. Just boil extra and eat the mistakes... as samples. :)

Now you've got me wanting to try steaming. My gues...

2009-08-20T14:50:26.342-07:00

Now you've got me wanting to try steaming. My guess is that it cooks more gently, so the membrane doesn't get tough.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I always tell people to let meat rest after cooking, to let the proteins relax. Eggs are protein. Maybe there's something to John's idea of just leaving them be for a while before peeling.

I get a pretty clean peel by cooking the eggs in t...

2009-08-20T13:51:53.753-07:00

I get a pretty clean peel by cooking the eggs in the normal way, just after breakfast, cooling them down on the counter, and then putting them in the fridge until lunch-time. They seem to give up their shells without the aid of hamsters after that.

Not to throw ice-water on your theory, since I hav...

2009-08-20T13:43:56.752-07:00

Not to throw ice-water on your theory, since I haven't tried it myself... I thought that if you put your hard-boiled eggs into ice water, the shells would slide off nicely. Perhaps it's the ice water bath and not the steaming that makes the shell come off easily? Go ahead and experiment (and save me the trouble!). You may submit your report to us tomorrow. ;)