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Earlier this year, I hosted a large family party and as usual, I was running behind schedule. My parents and sister-in-law offered to help. Wonderful, I thought. I had 24 eggs that needed to be peeled and made into deviled eggs. I put the three of them to the task while I went onto other things.

On one of my trips back into the kitchen they stopped me, complaining that the eggs were not peeling nicely. They told me I must have made them wrong. What? How can you made hard boiled eggs wrong? There are two ingredients – water and eggs.

Oh no, they assured me. You need to add vinegar and salt and rub a rabbit’s foot and spin around three times. Umm, no.

I reached over to grab an egg and test it. I make hard boiled eggs several times a week and they always peel for me. I cracked the egg on the counter and picked at the shell until the membrane of the eggshell separated from the egg.

It peeled off in a few large pieces.

Clearly the inability to peel the eggs was operator error and had nothing to do with the how the eggs were cooked.

So how did I do it? Simple. Take the eggs directly from the refrigerator and put it in a pot. Run cold water over the eggs to fill the pot about 1/2″ to 1″ from the top of the eggs.

Put on the stove at medium to high heat.

Once the eggs start boiling, set the timer for 10 minutes. When the time is up, run the eggs under ice cold water (you can add ice if you want) and leave sitting in water for 5 minutes. (Shut water off.)

After the 5 minutes are up, drain water and fill again, letting the eggs sit for 5 more minutes. For no other reason than good things come in threes, I do this one last time.

The eggs sit in cold water for 15 minutes total. It is important to change the water as the eggs will warm it up as they are cooling off.

I then drain the water and put the eggs in the refrigerator until I am ready to use them – in a few hours or a few days.

That’s it. Refrigerated Eggs. Cold water. Heat. Cold water again. Refrigerate. Eat. No rabbit’s foot or secret ingredient necessary.