Jamie Oliver's Pro Tip For Fishing Out Pesky Egg Shells

Everyone's had the maddening experience of trying to fish broken shell pieces out of a bowl after cracking an egg. It's like the shards have a mind of their own, darting away every time your fingers get near. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has shared a trick that pro chefs use to easily remove those stray bits, saving you time and aggravation with nearly every way to cook eggs. Just use one of the broken shell halves to get to the shards (one of many uses for egg shells). 

With this method, you can "cut" into the resilient egg white with the shell's sharp edge to reach the pieces, then use its curved shape to scoop them up. If you threw away the shells, another trick is to wet your fingers before putting them in the bowl. The water creates a sort of buffer, allowing you to reach the shards through the slippery egg white.

Of course, the best hack is to avoid getting shell pieces in your bowl in the first place. Cracking an egg on the edge of a bowl or frying pan makes it more likely to break unevenly and create those pesky broken bits. Instead, gently crack the eggs on a counter or another flat surface, then push into the crack with your thumbs and carefully pull the shell halves apart. Accidents can still happen, so crack your eggs into a separate bowl to avoid picking shells out of your other ingredients (or from your pan!).

What if you need to separate eggs? Jamie Oliver has tips for that, too. You have to be willing to get messy for one of them: Crack the egg into your hand and let the white slip through your slightly spread fingers into a bowl, while the yolk remains in your hand. Another is almost like a magic trick, getting the job done with just a clean, empty water bottle. After cracking the egg into a bowl, squeeze a little air out of the bottle with the opening next to the yolk, release your grip, and watch it get sucked inside. Squeeze the bottle again to deposit the yolk into your bowl, and you're golden!

Eggshell bits can be annoying when you're trying to peel a hard-boiled egg, too, fragmenting into pieces that stick to the white. Some pointers can speed things up so you can get to enjoying your boiled eggs, which happen to be Snoop Dogg's favorite snack! The peeling step is easier if the white naturally separates from the shell, and paying mind to the cooking process can help. Firstly, cook the eggs in boiling water with a little bit of baking soda to raise the water's alkaline level, then immediately soak the eggs in an ice bath for at least 10 minutes after they're done, to quickly drop their temperature. Once you start peeling the eggs, do so under a running faucet to rinse shell fragments away.