Does an Ice Bath Help Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs

Question

In the latest TV episode Chris K explained how to hard boil eggs and mentioned that it does not matter how you cook them, its all about the ice bath afterwards. Does this still hold when cooking the eggs starting with cold water?

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Joshua -
This technique is strictly about \peeling\ the eggs, not cooking them, so it should work regardless of how you cook them. The idea is to take hot eggs and chill them quickly to allow the albumen membrane of the egg to contract and release from the shell making it easier to peel. For hard-cooking eggs, our preferred method is to lower the eggs into boiling water and cooking for 8 minutes and 40 seconds to achieve a cooked white and a cooked, but still moist, yolk.
Best,
The Milk Street Cooking Team

Does an Ice Bath Help Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs

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