I keep reading that older eggs boil up better - well, how old is a 'good' old?? A week, more??? What if you only have 'new' eggs? How do you handle those?? Also, (yea, I'm back, sa-weet!!) what reallly IS a good way to cook these puppies so they don't have that ick green ring??????????

Thanks all, really appreicate the advise!!!

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Tara

"And that, Marjorie — just so you will know — and your children will someday know ---is the night the lights went out in Georgia!" Julia Sugarbaker

Tara, you're right, those extremely fresh eggs stick to the shell/membrane and make peeling almost impossible. I'm thinking the eggs peel easier when they are at least 12-14 old. I always keep a carton in rotation for hard boiling.

Also, I remembebered a topic you started about the microwave egg cooker. It actually has some good tips about boiling eggs in that thread.

Microwave Egg Cooker

That particular thread can be found in the Product Reviews forum.

HTH

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Ozzie's Place

OK. to avoid the ick green ring: Don't overcook!

Use one of the recipes that has you HB at a lower heat and then cool (by adding cold tap water) immediately at the end of the cooking period. Or use one of the recipes that have you bring to full boil, go a couple of minutes, and cover, leaving them that way until cool enough to handle, then refrigerating.

As for old, well, call me daring but I'm pretty cavalier about my egg ages. That's probably because I buy them almost every week. I use the older batch for HB, which is supposed to help in making them easier to shell. (I also find the quick cold water bath helps in this regard.)

HTH some.

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Tara,

I use to boil my hard-boiled eggs to death and they always got those nasty green rings. I read that you should bring them to a boil and then immediately turn off the heat and let them sit in the hot water for @ 20 minutes. I tried it and it works-neat and tasty hb eggs without the ick factor.

I do it Katalina's way, and after sitting for about 25 minutes (covered), pour off the hot water, immediately flood with cold while banging the eggs around in the pan to crack them nicely.

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

I bring the eggs to a boil, turn off the heat and cover them for about 8 to 10 minutes, then pour off the hot water and run cold water over them. They are perfect that way. And, yes, older eggs peel better, so when I boil eggs, I take the oldest I have in the fridge. And I'm blessed to have a little man deliver fresh eggs to me at the office just about every week when they're laying good, usually 5 dozen at a time. Pretty brown or tan or white eggs, and sometimes a lovely green. And they are superior to anything the grocery store sells. Makes me want to go buy some chickens......NOT!

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Nita

I WILL raise chickens, some day! (goats, too - especially those nubians with the long ears - then I'll make all the goat milk kefir I can drink in a month with one milking. )

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One day, when I'm retired, I might raise chickens. And rabbits, too, for meat. But I've always been told that around here, if you have chickens or rabbits, you'll have snakes, too. But they also say that if you have pigs, you won't have snakes, so it looks like I'll have to just have a real farm! And Maggie, around here they don't milk goats, they eat them.

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Nita

Well, I have nothing against eating a goat, myself.

If you go for rabbits, make sure you research how you can raise rabbits and worms (nightcrawlers - love them for bait fishing) together. The worms love rabbit droppings, so you can get two products for the hassle of one (... and, no, that's not an April Fool joke. )

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I had rabbits when I was in high school. Their droppings are great fertilizer.

Our town has an annual bbq goat cookoff, and our population for that weekend goes from its normal 6000 to something like 18000. It's always the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We actually had Food Network here one year, the year it poured buckets and everyone got stuck in the mud! What a hoot! But I still don't care for goat meat!

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Nita

goats, rabbits - oh you're a fun crowd!! Ok, I'll play around with the egg boiling, I've been doing the bring to boil then turn off and thought I was doing it right. Kummus, thanks, I'll check out that thread!!

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Tara

"And that, Marjorie — just so you will know — and your children will someday know ---is the night the lights went out in Georgia!" Julia Sugarbaker

How about mutton, anyone for mutton? Our town is famous for BBQ mutton, it's wonderful. Nita, one local BBQ restaurant that's nationally known, was also featured on Food Network. And when I say BBQ, I'm talking authentic hickory smoked BBQ. Not something parboiled with a sweet, icky sauce globbed on it.

We HAVE started a farm with this thread...from eggs to sheep. baaaa!

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Ozzie's Place

Let's see, I'd love to have fresh eggs and goat's milk. I'd have to have angora goats, though, for spinning mohair yarn. Of course then I'd have to learn how to spin, etc

I'm not sure I've have goat meat, but I've had mutton in some Greek dishes--bbq'd sounds acceptable, too.

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Man....lamb and mutton are the absolute BEST! I love deboned leg of lamb on the barbecue and if you ask me, sheep is the best meat of all to barbecue.

Anyone here had duck eggs? They are amazing. They're like the best possible eggs you can imagine..the whites are fantastic and the yolks are from heaven. I just wish I could find another source for them as I can't get them anymore

As for duck meat, well stop the train. It's delicious either roasted or barbecued.

In my checkered past, I raised organic free range beef cattle on a very small scale. We could buy male calves cheaply from the dairy farmers. On our property there is a very old apple orchard and the bulls would gorge themselves on the falls in autumn before slaughter. Mmmmm sweet.

The farm is growing. Well soon need a bigger place!

Margaret

I love duck eggs! When I was a kid we had 2 rescued mallard ducks. One thought she was a male, even had a bit of green on her neck, so she never did lay many eggs. The other was a good layer. My mom would replace her eggs with fertilized chicken eggs, and this little duck would sit on the eggs and hatch them, and treated the chicks like her own; however, she just couldn't figure out why they wouldn't go into the puddles to swim! She was an excellent mama. The fresh eggs we get from our little egg man are a lot like the duck eggs, with the dark orange yolk, and these eggs are huge.

Margaret, the apple-fed beef sure sounds delectable. Makes me jealous!

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Nita