You know: You want to make sandwiches, for example, everything is ready, boiled eggs are cooled in cold water, just peeled and sliced… But this production step is sometimes very difficult: boiled eggs can’t be peeled smoothly. They tear, peeling off the layers of protein stuck to the shell, leaving only the yolk covered in frayed protein. Why is it? And can it be prevented? How to peel a boiled egg?
How to peel eggs
Question: “How to peel boiled eggs” is a fixture on the internet. Advice comes from a variety of sources:
- from professional practice,
- or only from the computer’s editorial keyboard (with extensive use of the CtrlC, CtrlV keys).
- In discussions under the articles, people “flesh and bones” share their practical experience.
The discussants agree on one thing: You can’t peel too fresh eggs. And freshness does not mean the time that has elapsed since the purchase in the store, but the time since the laying of the egg by the hen. Therefore, the problem mainly concerns the so-called “domestic” eggs. These tend to be more expensive than large-scale eggs, which is why consumers are even more sorry if they do not go peeled into a smooth ovoid.
Our ancestors knew the problem of fresh eggs
Our ancestors also had the experience that boiled fresh eggs are difficult to peel.
Hen breeders (at least since the “invention” of egg trays, and this has been a long time) solved the problem by stacking the filled trays on the floors and taking the lower one in which the egg was the oldest for consumption.
Another measure of our grandmothers was that they chose a different method of preparation for demonstrably fresh eggs than hard cooking:
- They cooked them softly and served them to the diners in a cup and spoon;
- or served them as “eggs in a glass” – they used a spoon to select eggs cooked softly
- they prepared lost eggs normally (and more often than at present);
- The preparation of scrambled fresh eggs in butter or the frying of bull’s eyes from fresh eggs in butter were considered to be directly delicious.
The phrase “fresh eggs” was also used in culinary nomenclature. This was not because spoiled eggs were used for other treatments, but to recall that the eggs just laid, considered to be the best in taste, were used to treat “fresh” eggs.
Help: Leave nothing to chance
We can use the experience of our grandmothers even today.
- Do not use fresh eggs for cooking hard.
- Plan family cooking in advance, especially when it comes to cold kitchen products.
- Before the exposed occasion (Christmas, Easter, family celebrations, family weddings) buy eggs with advance.
- Buy currently available products – various containers in which eggs without shells (and without fat) are neatly cooked.
Check also: How to Tell if Eggs are Bad
Why are fresh eggs badly peeled?
To put it very simply: because the shell is completely full. The white pushes on the protective blank, so the shell, the egg membrane and the protein form one unit. After laying, the egg begins to dry – through the pores of the shell. The protein content decreases slightly, air enters between the protein and the membrane, the egg blank is released by the penetrating air. The white shrinkage effect is also used during the recommended rapid cooling of the just boiled egg.
