PIP'S TIPS - How to hard boil and peel a super fresh egg

Why fresh eggs are so hard to peel

I have tried numerous ways over the years and have had some success but it never seems to be consistent in results. I tried adding salt, baking soda and vinegar to the water. Nothing seemed to make much of a difference.

I tried using eggs straight from the fridge, I tried using room temperature eggs. I tried adding the eggs to cold water, and waiting until the water was boiling. And still, my fresh eggs wouldn't peel right. They always looked terrible! And as you know, we move our eggs so fast that we never have old ones laying around.

So for the last month I have been trialling this new way with eggs from all aged chickens and the most difficult of eggs to boil and peel - the little size 5's. These are my favourites boiled and I leave them in the fridge ready to snack on during the day with a good shake of salt and pepper or mash them up for a quick sammie or even eat straight out of the bowl.

So, firstly a little background as to why its so hard....when an egg is very fresh, the proteins in the egg white bond to the membrane instead of to one another, and the membrane becomes cemented to the white and is almost impossible to peel away, leaving an unappealingly cratered exterior when you do manage to get the shell off.

The secret: steam, don't boil

So what is the secret which is now not going to be so? A friend of mine told me she learnt this from her Nana and I thought surely not....it cant be that simple!!!

No more boiling. No more hard-to-peel eggs. No more waiting until your fresh eggs are old. No more salting the water or adding vinegar or baking soda. No more cracked eggs if they knock against each other or against the side of the pot in boiling water. More earth-friendly: you use WAY less water!

So here it is.....

Heat several inches of water to a gentle boil in a large pot.

Set a colander, double boiler, vegetable steamer or bamboo steamer on top of the pot. Use whatever you've got - doesn't matter, as long as the steam will get through.

Put your eggs in a single layer in the top of the steamer and cover.

Timing and cooling

How long will depend on how runny you like your yolks:

• 6 minutes for runny eggs
• 10 minutes for soft set eggs
• 12 minutes for hard cooked eggs
• Extra large, Turkey, Geese or Duck eggs - steam for 16 minutes

Then using tongs, gently set the eggs into a bowl of ice water until they are cool enough to peel.

How to peel them

Roll each egg on the counter to break the shell, then crack the blunt end of the egg and start peeling from that end. If there's any air sac inside the egg (as they should have arrived to you all upside down in the tray), that's where it will be, so it makes it easiest to start peeling there. Carefully remove the shell from each egg.

And there you have perfectly peeled eggs - every time - and you won't get that greyish-green rim along the yolk that results from cooking the eggs for too long or cooling them too slowly. The shells will practically fall off! I promise you that you will never go back!!!

Please feel free to send us some photos and success stories of your freshly peeled eggs!