Hard Boiling Fresh Eggs

Have you ever gotten some delicious eggs right from a farm, only to boil them how you've always known how to, and lose half your egg to the shell? ME TOO! Its taken me awhile and some experimenting and lots of commiserating with others on just what to do to make your eggs peel well!

First things first. Throw out how you've always hard boiled your eggs right now! You know what I mean. Putting the eggs in the pan, adding cold water, bring to a boil, ect. That method will not work here, and to be honest, doesn't always work with store bought or older eggs anyhow. While there is no method to boiling eggs to make every one of them peel perfectly, the way I do it is pretty successful. Besides, who needs total perfection right?

• Step 1: Decide how many eggs you are going to be boiling. Add them to your pot, and fill with water. Take the eggs back out. Doing this makes sure you have enough water to cover the eggs for the cooking process, and a big enough pot
• Step 2: Put the pot on your stove and turn the burner on high. You want your water to boil BEFORE you add your eggs! Yes, I am serious. Trust me!
• Step 3: Is the water boiling? Great! Lets add those eggs! So the water is obviously hot, lets be careful adding your eggs. I like to use tongs or a slotted spoon for this part. Carefully add your eggs, 1-2 at a time, to the water. I will sometimes wait a few seconds between eggs to let the water get back up to boiling
• Step 4: Once all your eggs are added, set your timer for 3 minutes. Cover the pot if you want, not really necessary, but you totally can. Let the eggs boil for 3 minutes
• After the 3 minutes is up, reset that timer for 10 minutes. Shut the burner off, and leave the pan alone. The eggs need to sit in the hot water to finish cooking.
• Now that the 10 minutes is up, carefully pour out the hot water, and replace it with cold. Cold shocking the eggs helps stop the cooking process, so your eggs are not overdone!

Once the eggs are cooled off, its time to peel. I like to tap my egg on a hard surface all over, so its well cracked. I dip my fingers in cold water and peel off the shell. I continue that process with all of the eggs. I like to give them a quick rinse in cold water to make sure all shell pieces are off. Sometimes you have a pesky piece that just doesn't want to let go!

Is this method of boiling eggs new or something you already knew? I know I have seen SO MANY different ways of getting eggs that peel properly. Adding vinegar or lemon to the water, lots of salt, or even baking soda.

I like simple. And to me, this is simple, plus it just works. Fresh eggs are notorious for being hard to peel. I am quite impatient and I do not like having to wait weeks for my eggs to age before I can enjoy some hard boiled. I have a lot of chickens, and we like to keep hard boiled eggs in the fridge for snacks. Plus adding to salads, or making deviled eggs.