For a long time, I have been mystified by why hard boiled eggs are sometimes easy to peel while at other times, the shell seems absolutely glued to the egg whites.
Good news, everyone!
I, too, have a method for boiling eggs – one which I invariably follow when I am making my world-famous devilled eggs, something which I make only when we entertain:
- Clean the house (which always takes way longer than you expect).
- Start preparing food – and since the cleaning took longer than you expected, you’ll be rushed and trying to get dressed for company as you do this.
- Get 24 or so eggs (if you are going to make devilled eggs, you might as well make it count).
- Place them in a large pot and cover with cold water.
- Put the pot on the stove and turn onto high.
- Run upstairs for a quick shower, since you have to get ready and you don’t want to smell like dust (from all that cleaning) when your guests arrive.
- Look at the tub…
- …and realize that what you really need is a bath. Just a quick one! Nice and hot…
- Fall asleep in the bathtub.
- Wake up when the house fills with black smoke and/or the eggs explode!
This may not yeild any edible eggs, but it will fill your house with a strong, pungent smell of sulphur – explaining once for all why they are called ‘devilled’ eggs!
And, it will not only provide an endless conversation topic for when your guests arrive (trust me, the smell will linger for days), it will make your culinary adventures the talk of the town!!!
Caution: while this has not happened to me every time I’ve made devilled eggs, at least two of the times, some of the eggs actually exploded, embedding egg tissue on all surrounding surfaces, including the ceiling. So, as an added benefit. you’ll get a cleaned ceiling out of this!
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
December 4, 2012 at 08:54
One trick that has worked well for me that I learned from my father back when he worked as a cook is to boil the egg in salted water. Peeling the boiled egg(s) then becomes very easy. Place it in the palm of your hand and crack it against the counter top. Next, with the egg still beneath your palm, roll it so the shell is cracked all the way around. The shell and attached membrane should then peel off very easily.
Xanthippa says:
Thanks for the tip!!!
December 6, 2012 at 14:13
if the eggs are hard to peel, perhaps you overcooked them?
Xanthippa says:
I suspect the ones I had to scrape off the ceiling were more than a little overcooked…but, in general, the amount of time spent cooking does not seem to influence how easy or difficult it is to peel the eggs.