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Comment by 11thEarlOfMar | Hacker News Reader

A few years back, I was a line cook for Denny's. Busiest day of the year was always Mother's Day. Shortly after Denny's introduced the Grand Slam Breakfast (I did say a few years back) I worked Monther's Day on the egg station. In 8 hours, I did eggs for 344 Grand Slams and 45 omlettes. Total: 803 eggs.

So I got pretty good at cracking with one hand.

The only point I'll add: Crack on a flat surface like the counter, not a bowl or pan edge. It yields fewer small egg shells shards to fish out.

PS: I also got to the point I could shell 30 hard boiled eggs in under 30 seconds with a 2-handed shell technique.

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One little tip with regards to those bits of shell: wet your finger with water before fishing them out. I dunno why, but it somehow repels the egg white and lets you actually grip the damn shell.

It’s even easier to get the bits of shell using a larger piece of shell.

I just leave the shell. It's not harmful and you never taste/feel it anyway.

thanks now i cant eat eggs again until i forget this comment

I'm pretty sure it's just a massive calcium boost. I do this if I'm cooking for myself, but absolutely not if someone else is eating it. Most people do not tolerate crunch in their fluffy eggs lol.

When I worked for some years in a ramen shop I gained a visible callous on my thumb from peeling ajitama. I remember we would often have races to see who could peel a batch of something like 300 eggs first. I don't remember exactly, but it seems quite reasonable to me that an average time for those races would be under 10 minutes. Great to make Chef happy and have a little fun too!

The callous went away, but have a few more permanent burn scars still from those long long days and nights making tonkotsu with simply 100qt pots and large ranges.

> I also got to the point I could shell 30 hard boiled eggs in under 30 seconds with a 2-handed shell technique.

Amazing- I think that I would have trouble picking up 30 eggs in 30 seconds.

There are many eggy talents

Lest not forgot The Eggman: https://youtu.be/yewjkwZB-YE?si=B01MigqdtkoVILi1

coo coo ca choo

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=elzEOs2pY38

The real eggman

Me too, but I'm confident that if I did pick up 30 eggs in 30 seconds, they'd be right cracked.

Can you share secrets for shelling hard boiled eggs? It takes so long, the shell sticks to the egg or it brings too much white with it

I make them in an instant pot. 5 mins high pressure cook, quick release, take them out straight into ice cold water, leave for 5 minutes, the shell almost slides off. The fresher the egg, the easier to peel.

This was debunked a while ago in an article from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for rhe New York Times.

It’s good I don’t read it. Still works for me. YMMV.

https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boil...

Stick the egg in a smallish plastic container, probably maybe 1.5 to 2x the size of the egg. Fill the container with egg about halfway with water. Put the lid on and shake firmly (lengthwise along the egg) for about 10 seconds.

I dunno what it is about this technique, but it makes the shell MUCH looser from the egg. Doesn't work great for runny eggs though since it tends to pop them.

> PS: I also got to the point I could shell 30 hard boiled eggs in under 30 seconds with a 2-handed shell technique.

This is something I'd love to master. Not sure why but I'm terrible at shelling hard boiled eggs.

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