Cracked

I have a fairly static routine for breakfast.  I grab two hard-boiled eggs, a banana, and bring it to work to “enjoy” there.  I’ve got salt and pepper at my desk, and it’s a really portable way to ensure that I get some morning protein with my coffee so that I’m not starving by lunchtime.

Now, I know there are theories about eating eggs.  It’s good cholesterol; it’s bad cholesterol.  Whatever.  Since I reduced my carb consumption significantly, my cholesterol has dropped into the acceptable levels, even with this 2-egg a day habit.  But, I digress.  The reason I’m writing this has nothing to do with physical health.  Mental health…yes.  These bastards are impossible to peel!

Let’s start by how I cook them.  I used to watch Chef Mark Bittman on the New York Times site for some weekly advice.  I’ve yet to make Welsh Rarebit, but he did another short about how to cook an egg.  There are tons of techniques, but we frequently do the following: bring some water to a boil, carefully place eggs into the rolling boil, boil for 7 minutes, shut off the heat, grab the eggs, and throw them into a bowl and into the fridge.  This gives you a nice yellow yolk that, most of the time, is between gelatinous and solid…rich and creamy and awesome.  If your yolks are green and stinky, you f-ed up your eggs.

In peeling, I was always told to roll your cooled eggs to somewhat uniformly crack the shell a full 360 degrees.  Most of the time this works…however, this last batch has been an absolute monster to peel, and, according to edinformatics.com on the interwebs, this is why:

“With eggs that are just a day or two old, the membrane beneath the shell sticks tightly to the shell making peeling the egg almost impossible. After a few days in the refrigerator the egg becomes easier to peel. Why is this? In fresh eggs the albumen sticks to the inner shell membrane more strongly than it sticks to itself because of the more acidic environment of the egg. The white of a freshly laid egg has a pH between 7.6 and 7.9 and an opalescent (cloudy) appearance due to the presence of carbon dioxide. After the protective coat is washed off the egg shell the egg becomes porous and begins to absorb air and loose some carbon dioxide contained in the albumen. This reduces the acidity of the egg which causes (after several days in the refrigerator) the pH to increase to around 9.2. At higher pH the inner membrane does not stick as much to the albumen so the shell peels off easier. In addition, as the egg gets older it will shrink and the air space between the egg shell and the membrane will get larger.”

So, I guess we’re getting fairly fresh eggs from Mr. Trader Joe.  That’s reassuring, however, I wish that they would shrink more in less time and/or have a higher pH so as to make the peeling simpler and therefore make me less grumpy at work. 

Oh, and then there’s this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai9Akl8vQ-c