Gordon Ramsay's Genius Process For Peeling Eggs Quickly

Whether you're deviling eggs, making egg salad, or simply prepping a quick protein snack to keep your engine running, it's so frustrating when a portion of your boiled egg sticks to the shell and ends up in the trash. Luckily, superstar chef Gordon Ramsay has a hack for that, and the "Hell's Kitchen" star isn't too stingy to share.

Like most famous chefs, Gordon Ramsay knows enough food prep tips to fill a walk-in freezer, like his unconventional approach to cutting avocados by using a lime juice rub. When it comes to peeling eggs, he shows off his method in a YouTube video. The celebrity chef says to begin by draining the hot water from your pan of boiled eggs, then immediately run some cold water over them.

Next, tap each egg on the side of the pan to crack the shell, and then return them to the cold water. This allows the water to seep beneath the shell, the celebrity chef says, which separates the white from that pesky, sticky membrane. Finally, peel the egg, which at this point will be much cleaner and easier to do. This trick isn't Ramsay's only way of avoiding mistake everyone makes when peeling hard-boiled eggs and creating perfect results.

Gordon Ramsay serves up more advice for achieving a well-boiled egg in general, including gently lowering the eggs into boiling water with a spoon to keep them from making hard contact with the pan and cracking. The superstar chef also states in another YouTube video that the amount of boiling time for the ideal soft-boiled egg is four-and-a-half minutes precisely, with thousands of perfect soft-boils under his belt to attest to it.

Other common hard boiled egg tricks can further help you avoid mistakes and pitfalls. Submerging the eggs in an ice bath after boiling helps to stop the cooking process ASAP, so the inside doesn't overcook, and this method also causes the whites to shrink away from the shell for easier removal. 

Using older eggs is also recommended for the purpose of boiling. Fresh ones are more difficult to peel when boiled because they lack the large air sac that develops under the shell as an egg ages. This air pocket makes the innards contract away from the shell for easier peeling. An alternative peeling technique, shelling the eggs under a stream of running water, is somewhat similar to Ramsay's method — it allows water to get beneath the shell's membrane for cleaner removal, and also helps clean away shell fragments that can remain stuck to the egg.