You may recall that I am all about the hens, and the eggs. And if you hang around farmish egg people, you know that fresh eggs can be extremely difficult to peel when you hard boil them. This is because as eggs age, the white starts to shrink, the egg becomes more acidic, and just, ewwwww. Trying to peel fresh eggs means you lose most of the white and end up with just the yolk.
But most people don't know this, because they are getting their eggs from the grocery store, where the eggs are already weeks old. Since I get my eggs fresh every day, I have been fighting this battle, because we do love us some egg salad. I have tried everything - ice baths, pin pricks, carefully calculated timing and temperatures. But a year ago I tried something new, and it worked.
Today, I really put it to the test, because in preparation for a luncheon, I had to boil 36 eggs. Back in the day, I would have lost half of them. But with this method, not a single one. And they looked fabulous (too bad I am mushing them up). The secret? Steaming instead of boiling.
I put two inches of water in my pot and bring it to full boil; put the eggs in a single layer in the steamer (I can do 12 at a time). 20 minutes, and they are perfect!! I could have done a more artistic photo, but I wanted you to see how they are all perfect! I cut the one open to make sure they were done - look at that yolk....