Presentable deviled eggs start with one tricky task
YES, THERE IS AN ART TO THE PERFECTLY PEELED EGG
Ilove eating deviled eggs and egg salad, but I had been avoiding making either because it was so much trouble peeling the eggs.
I researched the subject online and tried many of the techniques that promised perfectly smooth eggs.
I even went so far as to purchase an egg holder for my pressure cooker. None of these “aha” techniques were any better than the way I’ve always boiled eggs.
Peeling them was a struggle, and they were left looking pockmarked and homely.
Then this summer, I visited my friend Kirsten. She had a dozen perfectly peeled eggs in her refrigerator.
I thought maybe she had succumbed to buying the massmarket boiled and peeled eggs. But no.
Her secret — which I’m now revealing — is that you crack the egg on the bottom (that’s the egg’s larger side, while the top is the more pointed side). I had always cracked my hardboiled eggs on the side.
When I got home, I boiled a dozen eggs to make egg salad, tried cracking the eggs on the bottom, and it was a game changer.
The eggs were much easier to peel, but it still took too long to peel them. So the next time I made boiled eggs, I went rogue and didn’t cool the eggs down first. I realized that cooling down the eggs was the only common denominator with my hardtopeel eggs.
I was taught that you have to pour out the hot water that the eggs were boiled in and immediately cover them with cold water to prevent them from turning gray around the yolk.
This may be true, but I discovered that it also makes the shell stick to the eggs.
I decided to see what would happen if I peeled the eggs while they were still hot.
I put on my kitchen gloves and started peeling.
I cracked the bottom of the egg as Kirsten instructed me, and the egg shells literally slipped off.
I peeled a dozen eggs in under five minutes.
A few of the eggs did have a gray cast to the yolk, but once I sliced them and mixed them up in egg salad, you couldn’t see it.
See the box above for my method. You will be shocked at how fast this method is and how foolproof.
And you may be shocked to realize how much you start putting boiled eggs in your food repertoire.
This summer, I rediscovered egg salad. I make it with shallots, fresh dill, mayo and a touch of strong Dijon mustard.
It is great to have on hand for a proteinpacked, ketofriendly lunch or even breakfast.