Easy-Peel Steamed Eggs Recipe

Let's cook some hard-cooked eggs that we can actually peel, shall we?

These eggs opened up like little jackets being unzipped. It gave me a satisfaction similar to popping packing bubbles, and who doesn't like to pop packing bubbles?

Shells came off almost in one piece!

No discoloration! Lovely yellow yolks.

After scouring the Internet for the perfect way to cook and peel hard-boiled eggs,and trying out the recipes only to fail, I found a recipe for steaming the eggs, rather than boiling them. Brilliant.

Previously, I had followed all the old advice, including, adding vinegar or baking soda to the boiling water; using "unfresh" eggs; boiling, quick cooling in an ice bath, and  reboiling and re-cooling, ala Julia Childs. Still, I peeled a third of the egg away, despite meticulously following directions. Very frustrating.

I persevered until I happened upon the blog, http://www.whatscookingwithkids.com/  where Michelle Stern shares her recipe for steaming eggs to make hard-cooked eggs. She keeps chickens that lay only fresh eggs which proved impossible to use for making hard-boiled eggs the traditional way, because they simply would not peel. Terry Golson left her a recipe for steaming the eggs for 20 minutes.  

I tried the recipe immediately, with some tweaking.

Here is my interpretation of the steaming method for making hard-cooked eggs:

EASY-PEEL STEAMED EGGS

TOOLS:
1 large steamer that nests in a large pot.
Large bowl for the ice bath.
Tongs.
DIRECTIONS:
Add water to pot, about 2-3 inches deep.
Set about 6 large eggs in the large nesting steamer and place steamer on pot.
Cover with the lid.
Boil the water on high heat.
When water boils, time the eggs for 12 minutes.
To stop the cooking process, immediately place the eggs in an ice bath (about 1/2 ice to 1/2 water.)
Cool about 6 minutes.

Take all eggs out of ice bath and peel.

To peel, gently tap on the counter the "flat" end of the egg first, and then gently tap 2 or 3 more times on the sides of the egg. Begin to peel from the flat end of egg to top point of egg, creating a "line" of peeled egg. This allows the rest of the peel to come off almost in one piece.

Refrigerate. Enjoy within 3 days.

Shiny, pit-free "hard-boiled" eggs that peel easily, at last! My life is complete.

Yolks popped right out.