I have to hard-boil two dozen eggs this weekend for a kid snack contribution. Normally, I would be anxious with worry about how they will peel. After all, I’ve never had consistent luck with the various approaches to a perfectly peeled egg. Some say  to chill the cooked eggs in cold water. Some say to peel right away. Some say to wait until they cool. Use older eggs. All good ideas but not foolproof, at least in my kitchen.

But thanks to my friend A. and her friend’s Pennsylvania-Dutch granny, I’ve hit the holy grail. How we got to talking about eggs when we met for lunch on a rainy fall day, I’m not sure. But we did. And out came a story about how A. and her friend volunteered to make hundreds of deviled eggs for a wedding. The horror on my face was immediately visible but she reassured me that there was no reason for concern. Each and every single egg peeled beautifully thanks to this nifty trick: cooking the eggs in salted water!

This works for us every time. Let me know how it goes for you.

Preparation

1. Add eggs to pan and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add about a 2 tsp. of kosher salt to the water.
2. Bring to a boil, then cover, remove from heat and let stand for 13 minutes.
3. Rinse in cold water and when eggs are warm but not too hot to handle, remove the peel.
4. It should slip right off beautifully!