I think there’s something wrong with eggs these days. I can’t get the shells to come off without leaving a shredded mess. That doesn’t matter if it’s going to be egg salad, but it ruins your deviled eggs.
Leave ‘em out in the hot sun a couple days: the shells will slip right off.
How long do you keep your eggs in your refrigerator before you use them. Do you buy them and use them right away?
Use regular water, not holy water. :-)
Do you smash the eggs on your forehead to crack them? Should peel away every time:)
You are buying eggs that are too fresh. When I switched from supermarket eggs to eggs from my butcher (from a farm) all of a sudden my hard-boiled eggs wouldn’t peel.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html
http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/04/the-easy-way-to-peel-farm-fresh-hard-boiled-eggs.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-hard-boiled-eggs-with-FRESH-eggs/
This is about the best way to get stubborn shells off eggs without tearing up the white.
Works even if the eggs have been boiled and refrigerated.
I boil eggs for 10 minutes.
Drain the hot water from the pan & replace with running cold water until you can touch the eggs.
I then roll the eggs around on a countertop to gently break the shell into small pieces.
Then I pick a small piece off, and under running water, peel the rest of the shell off, trying to get under the membrane. It usually comes off in large pieces.
This works 90% of the time, sometimes I too get a bad egg that peels horribly.
Run cold water over them after they’ve cooked. I’ve also seen people put them in small jars of water and shake them.
Then it isn’t just me.
I did an internet search and could not find it--looks like a small cup with a needle sticking up. Here's a pic of someone using a tack to do the same thing:
The boiling method doesn’t matter too much (put the eggs into cold or boiling water, as you prefer), but two things that do seem to make a difference are:
1. Use eggs that have been in the fridge for a week or two.
2. Put the eggs into ice water as soon as they are cooked, and peel them when they are cool enough to handle. If you store them in the shell, they’ll probably peel badly.
These don’t guarantee perfect eggs, but they’ll help your chances. Eggshells are definitely thinner on commercial eggs than they used to be, and that seems to be associated somehow with difficult peeling. Too many of my boiled eggs nowadays look as though rats had gnawed them.
And if you’re ever tempted to get one of those air-pressure egg peelers, don’t. My wife brought one home last year, so I boiled up a dozen eggs. One of the first five through the gadget came out reasonably intact; the others were destroyed (as in exploded). Into the trash went the miracle device.
I had the same problem until I researched ‘how make hard-boiled eggs’ and followed the instructions. As, for example:
http://dish.allrecipes.com/how-to-boil-an-egg/
Quit boiling your eggs. Cook them in an oven. My S-I-L told me about this, so I tried it. Worked out great. Yesterday I cooked 12 eggs in the oven and the shells came off very easily. There will be a brown spot where the eggs touched the side of the muffin pan, but now I use a silicone muffin pan and the problem is solved.
You do not have to fill the muffin pan, cook as many eggs as you need.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=hard+boil+eggs+in+oven
I think theres something wrong with eggs these days. I cant get the shells to come off without leaving a shredded mess. That doesnt matter if its going to be egg salad, but it ruins your deviled eggs.
Immediately get the finished eggs into ice water and put plenty of salt into the boiling water
I never remember my mom, in the limited times I had them, causing that problem. Then I started making them in my quest to be the next Arnold, and I found this was a common “thing”. I thought the same thing as you—is this a new phenomenon? Or am I doing it wrong? I have been successful as of late—I boil the water and let it sit there for 10 minutes at least. And I add baking soda to the water.
How well a hard boiled egg peels depends upon the age of the egg. Fresher eggs do not boil and peel well at all. I get my eggs straight from the hens so I have to let them age in the fridge a couple of weeks.