How To Keep From Cursing As You Attempt To Peel Boiled Eggs

The night before my first sold out “Art Of Ramen At Home” cooking class, my husband came home to a terrifying scene. Eggs. Eggs everywhere. It was carnage. The sink was filled with soft boiled eggs in various stages of undress - some split open just enough to leave their golden yolks weeping through the small holes of a perched colander, others mutilated to an unintelligible medley of shell, white, and gold. I was nowhere to be found.

If you’ve ever had the experience of attempting to peel a bunch of hard boiled eggs only to have the shell stubbornly hold onto the delicate white and leaving you with a broken mess, you’re not alone. That night, after cursing no less than 100 times and ultimately giving up, I left my kitchen a war zone and headed to the local bar to get a sympathy beer. Some nights in the kitchen are just like that.

Here’s what you can do to make sure your soft boiled eggs are easy to peel and your mouth avoids the soap.

1) Buy old eggs! In my experience, this is the most important step. There’s a thin membrane between the yolk and the white that causes the shell to hold on tight and leave your kitchen in ruins. The older the egg, the weaker the membrane. This is not a time for freshly laid organic eggs - this is the time for that 89 cent carton.

2) Make sure your water is at a ROILING boil before adding the eggs. Any less and you risk dropping the temperature of the water too much, thereby slowing the cooking of the eggs. Eggs cooked under about 6 minutes are incredibly difficult to peel.

3) Don’t boil more than about 6 at a time. Speaking of dropping the temperature of the water, adding a dozen cold eggs into even the most roilingist of roiling boils could still keep them from cooking long enough. Be patient and add them in batches to maintain the proper water temperature.

4) Don’t skip the cold water after cooking. The change in temperature will help to shock the membrane, loosening its’ grip on the shell.

5) Smack the shell with the back of a spoon repeatedly, then peel it using the side of your thumb under running water. The more cracks in that egg shell, the easier I find it to peel. Also, the running water will help to clean off any shell bits.

Tamari-Maple Marinated Soft Boiled Egg

I first made these eggs to pair with homemade ramen, but have since made them to put on everything. Tacos, rice, noodles, toast, my Ultimate Recovery Congee, or just as a snack on the go, these salty sweet “flavor eggs” are such a delicious addition to any meal. I’d recommend doubling the recipe if this is your first go, and don’t be afraid to reuse that marinade to feed your soon-to-be marinated egg addiction.

Yield: 6 eggs
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 6 minutes 20 seconds plus marinating time (2-6 hours)

6 large eggs
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
3/4 cup tamari (soy sauce works if you can’t find tamari)
1/4 cup water

Using a pin, poke a small hole into the larger end of each egg.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and carefully slide in the eggs. Cook over high heat for exactly 6 minutes and 25 seconds, stirring gently for the first minute to distribute the heat. When the time is up, transfer the eggs to an ice bath or put them immediately under cold running water to halt their cooking.

Combine the maple syrup, vinegar, tamari and water in a medium sized bowl.

Using the back of a spoon, crack the eggs multiple times to create a spider web looking design in the shell. Then, peel the eggs under running water or directly in the water bath and transfer to the maple tamari mixture. (Use a plate to submerge the eggs entirely if necessary.) Marinate in the fridge for at least 2, up to about 6 hours (longer may result in a too-salty egg and/or having the marinade seep into the beautifully yellow yolks). Remove them from the liquid and keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. The eggs will keep for a week or more if they last that long, the marinade will keep for months.