Egg Talk: the egg tack
Consider the specimen. What kitchen would require such a strange implement in its batterie de cuisine? One of the most searching and recurring conversations that I have had in the kitchen regards the perfect method for a boiling an egg. For years I thought I possessed it.
Place the eggs in cold water, bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and set the timer for 7 minutes. Plunge into an ice bath and peel. However I started to realize that this became much more complicated and imperfect with a fresh farm egg than a conventional egg. The eggs from the farm would be perfectly cooked but impossible to peel. Then there were times that 7 minutes were not enough yet no perfect time could be found. I had been told about a method for boiling eggs where you first bring the water to the boil and then place the eggs in, boiling for 10 minutes. This seemed like just another version of the same method I had been using and I disregarded it.
I then came across a rumored method involving one additional detail. If you pricked each egg with a thumb tack and placed them in boiling water for 10 minutes they would be perfect and easy to peel. By piercing the air cell, which sweetly sits at the round end of the egg to give the young chick its first breath, water will go into the egg, loosening the fine elastic membrane that stands between the shell and the white which if not perfectly lifted when cooked will make havoc of peeling the egg. I didn’t want to know any more about this technique mostly because it required both having a thumb tack in the kitchen, a recipe for disaster, and individually pricking an egg. It seemed downright stupid. I stubbornly, or perhaps especially, didn’t want it to work despite there being some scientific basis for its potential success.
I chose to remain frustrated, carrying on still faithful to my old method until enlightenment was graced upon me. After years of egg talk and a desire to convert me to his new method, Stephen Tanner stepped in. Committed to making a personal and meaningful contribution to our young business, so dependent on hard boiled eggs, he demonstrated the method. He even bought a box of tacks. The result, you guessed it, perfection every time.
Pierce the butt end of the egg with a thumbtack and a gentle wiggle. Bring a pot of water to a boil and quickly add the eggs. Time for 9 minutes. Plunge into an ice bath. Peel with speed and ease.
