Don’t Boil Them – Steam Your Eggs
In the early days of this blog, I thought I knew how to hard-boil an egg. Now I know better.
Steaming them is the answer, and I discovered that the eggs just beg to pop out of their shells. The shells came off in one continual piece.
My friend, Celi at The Kitchen’s Garden, mentioned one day that she ‘steamed’ eggs. Now Celi has chooks, otherwise known as chickens, or more specifically hens. She lives on a self-sustaining farm, and she’s up to her alligator logo, if she wore that sort of thing, with chook eggs. She ‘steams’ them a dozen and a half at a time, and she uses one of those “lotus-blossom-expandable-folding aluminium vegetable steamers. I don’t have one of those; I have a double-boiler steamer. I knew right off that my eggs would need more time than Celi’s because her steamer sits closer to the boiling water than my steamer.
So, here what I did. I brought of few inches of water in the bottom pan to a rolling boil, and then set the steamer pan with 4 eggs above it. Clapped on a tight-fitting lid, and set the kitchen timer for 13-minutes. No, I really truly have no clue why I chose 13-minutes. It could’ve chosen 15-minutes, but had I done that, I think they would’ve been slightly over-done. I just guessed, and guessed right. When the time was up, the eggs were plunged into icy water and then peeled. They turned out perfectly “hard-boiled”. The whites were softly firm but not rubbery, and the yolk was slightly flaky and firm.
Total success. I might have to call them “hard-steamed” from now on.
For all the details and complete method, pop over to Celi’s The Kitchen’s Garden, and read her post about steaming eggs.
I will have to try this. Was this 13 minutes on gas or electric stove, and middle heat, low heat? I boil them for 8 mins on electric mid heat atm.
Amanda, the type of heat source or its strength (medium or high) doesn’t matter because it’s the steam generated from the boiling water in the bottom pan that’s important. Bring the water up to a rapid boil, and keep it boiling after you place the steamer pan/apparatus in the pan with the raw eggs. If you boil your eggs directly in boiling water for 8-minutes, then you might try 10-minutes steaming. You’ll have to judge by experience based on the size of the eggs. I hope it works well for you. I found it one of the best tricks I’ve learnt in a long time!
Thanks Misky!
I will give this a go, I always thought it was the plunge in the cold water that got the shells to release from the eggs. I have noticed lately that eggs are not peeling like they used to and that often shells are very thin and thought that might account for it?
I’d read the same about cold water releasing the shell, but lately that hasn’t worked for me. Peeled eggs are so scruffy looking they’re only good for egg salad. I get very cross when the whites cling to shell, particuarly when you need a nice looking egg. For some reason, the eggs nearly jumped out of the shells with this method. Dumb luck? Beginner’s luck? Maybe. I’d sure like to know if you had the same sort of luck, Joanna.
Bonjour Mlle Misky d’Croutons! quelle belle new site! love the new look and the header, all bright and fun ! xx
Thank you! So happy that you like it!
xx
Have to tell you that you are so right. The eggs are sooo much easier to peel when you steam them. Successful post! Thankyou
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for leaving a comment.