Hard-boiled eggs that are easy to peel?

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

do they have to be a week or too weeks old so that they are easy to peel?
or do sometimes they can be boiled fresh from the market and still being peelable?

and if they can be peeled from fresh wh dosn't it always the case? why do they very often not possible to peel?

would appreciate a good answer for these questions.

 

[thymeless]

Pressure cook them.

 

[Marlingardener]

Before we got our laying hens, I used supermarket eggs and had no idea how fresh they were. I found that pricking the blunt end with a needle helped the eggs peel cleanly--usually.
Those that just will not peel well are called "egg salad ingredients."
(With our hens' eggs, I just write the date on the shell so I know their age and "peelability".

 

[Andy M.]

When the eggs are done cooking, take them out of the boiling water and put them in an ice bath for 15 minutes. Then they should peel fine.

 

[dragnlaw]

Older eggs are easier to peel usually because the air pocket (at the fat end) is larger. For some reason this helps the membrane to part from the shell of the egg easier.
Pricking the fat end (air pocket) can help in preventing the shell from splitting open while cooking.
Also a help in peeling, after the ice bath that Andy mentioned, use a regular teaspoon to slide under the shell to cleanly pull it away from the egg. Of course, as Marlingardener says, when they are too fresh, egg salad is on the menu!
Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, there is no way in telling how old the eggs are. Other than seeing the size of the air pocket, which is a bit difficult with the shell in tact!
Here in Canada, we have "best before" dates on the cartons, but not when they were laid.

 

[thymeless]

Because an egg shell is slightly porous the pressure cooker basically compresses the egg away from the shell while it cooks making it very easy to peel. Works great in the instapot as well

 

[dragnlaw]

Don't have an iinstapot to try it but it has been mentioned here many times and it certainly makes sense.
How long do instapots take to get up to pressure and how long to de-compress?
I imagine just the going up and coming down would be enough to hard-boil the egg?

 

[Andy M.]

While you may decide to buy an InstantPot or pressure cooker for your kitchen, it is absolutely NOT necessary for easy peeling hard cooked eggs.

I have been using this method and have not had even one egg difficult to peel: https://www.seriouseats.com/perfect-boiled-eggs-recipe

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL, anyone who buys any kind of pressure cooker just for eggs... well, guess I won't say what's going thru my mind. LOL
If you really want, you can always purchase an egg cooker - they do a very good job.

I've actually just dug out the electric egg cooker my brother gave to our mum in the 50's! and it still works perfect. I do hard boiled and poached in it.

 

[Badjak]

I have a pressure cooker and I hardly ever use it.
Just gotta remember when boiling eggs and test.

 

[thymeless]

For the pressure cooker method, you want it come up to pressure fast. So very little water. Put the eggs in the steamer basket/ insert. 1 cup water, Seal, heat on high. Cook at high pressure 5 minutes. For my pressure cooker (Fagor Duo 8qt), it works best if I start timing when the pressure indicator pops up even before it starts to vent. But expect some variability between equipment. Off heat 5 minutes (natural release), then vent the rest and shock the eggs.

So it's fast. Again, depending on your equipment, some extra water may be needed but the 1 cup is close for most equipment.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

TNX TO ALL

 

[dragnlaw]

thymless, OK, so you are talking about an instapot.

 

[thymeless]

It works with Instapots, the instructions are the same in this case between pressure cooker and instapot. But the Fagor Duo is a pressure cooker

 

[dragnlaw]

Oops, sorry, just had never heard of a Fagor Duo pressure cooker.
I figured an instapot would be a lot easier without having to put it on a burner, wait for the rocker and start counting, turning down the burner and then timing.
I guess with the small amount inside the cooling down would be the same. Last time I used my pressure cooker (quite awhile ago) it was potatoes and took a lot longer than 5 minutes for release.

 

[thymeless]

Yeah, they will likely be some pressure after 5 minutes cooling down but that release is a quick release, not just open it up.

 

[dragnlaw]

yep, understood, thanks.

 

[HeyItsSara]

older eggs peel better