Kitchen Myths

Many people hard-cook eggs by putting them in already-boiling water. The temperature shock, it is claimed, causes the shell to expand quickly and crack, with stringy egg white leaking out. But while this seems to make sense, it is not true.

First of all, an expanding shell in not likely to crack–a shrinking shell is. In this case, an egg might crack when it is done cooking and is transferred from the boiling water to the cold. Of course, by this time, cracks do not matter.

iI one saw Julia Child, on her show, demonstrate this. She took a bunch of raw eggs from an ice water bath directly into boiling water, and not one of them cracked. Pretty convincing!

So, why do some eggs crack? It seems to be two things. Some eggs already have invisible cracks in them from rough handling during production and shipping. These will indeed open up in hot water and release egg white. Also, rapidly boiling water will bounce the eggs around and cause new cracks. Thus, if you must boil eggs, use gently simmering water.

But the best way to cook “hard-boiled” eggs is, in my and many other cooks’ opinions, steaming. Please refer to this post.