(from momswhothink.com)
How to Avoid Eggs That Don’t Peel
How do you peel an egg without taking half of it off with the shell? The secret is to use an older egg. The fresher the egg, the harder it is to peel-no matter how you cook it.
A two week old refrigerated egg peels perfectly once cooked. If you have a fresh egg from a chicken, you’ll leave half of it on the shell even if they cooked exactly the same way.
So how do you tell how fresh an egg is? An old-fashioned way to find out the age of an egg by placing it in the bottom of a bowl of cold water. If it lays on its side, it is strictly fresh. If it stands at an angle it is at least three days old. If it stands on end, it is ten days old.
Or you could just go by the date on the carton. The day of the year that the eggs are processed and placed into the carton must be shown on each carton with the USDA grade shield.
This is called the “Pack Date.”The number is a three-digit code that represents the consecutive day of the year. For example, January 1 is shown as “001” and December 31 as “365.” Also, most packers show a month and day on the end of the carton which indicates the last day the eggs should be sold at retail or used by consumers.
How to Boil Eggs
1. Place the eggs in a saucepan, cover them with COLD tap water (enough to just cover all the eggs).
2. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Keep an eye on the eggs, and as soon as the water is at a rolling boil immediately reduce the heat to a low medium boil and cook an additional 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and very quickly place the eggs under ice cold water or in a bowl of iced water to chill quickly and keep the yolk a nice yellow color.
4. Chill for a few minutes in the cold water until the egg is completely cooled. Crack each egg on all sides and peel.