Right, wrong ways to blow an egg out of its shell
At dinner one night recently, one of the young men who had joined us showed us a neat trick: he blew a hard-boiled egg right out of its shell.
We had all been discussing the correct way to peel an egg. One kid mentioned tapping it on the table and using fingers. Another mentioned using a spoon. Then this one said he could show us the “best” way.
We all watched while he tapped the wide end of the egg against the table and began to peel. After he had made a hole on that end of the eggshell, he flipped it over and made another small hole on the opposite end.
Then he stuck the small end to his lips and blew. Lo and behold, he blew that egg clear out of its shell.
Amazed, the other kids began tapping eggs against the table, too. One by one, they attempted to recreate the trick that they had seen. None was successful. Oh, they tapped the eggshells in the correct manner, and made the holes the correct size, but none was able to blow it out. They blew hard enough, it seemed, but still no egg popped out. They actually blew hard enough that I thought a couple of them were going to burst blood vessels in their eyes, so I put an end to the attempts for the night.
I didn’t endeavor to try this trick, although I did manage to blow an egg out of its shell later in the week. You see, I had skipped lunch at work and was quite hungry by mid-afternoon. Knowing that I had a box of eggs in the refrigerator, I did a quick internet search to see if I could prepare a couple in the microwave.
A recipe for hard-boiled eggs appeared, and I followed the instructions for them. I heated water and then added two eggs to the hot liquid. I put them in the center of the tray and set the timer. When it came to the part where I was supposed to turn it down to half power, I became stumped. There didn’t seem to be an option to do that. Instead, I figured I’d cook them on full power for half the time, and adjusted the timer to reflect that choice.
Big mistake.
Before the timer had indicated that the time was up, I heard a loud boom. I opened the door and saw water spilled everywhere, and egg morsels stuck to all sides of the interior. Grabbing paper towels, I began to sop up the mess. One egg was intact in the cup, so I set it out on the table.
The other egg was just pieces of shell and bits of egg. I scooped it up off the microwave tray and tossed it in the trash.
For a few days, I joked about being the only other one at our table to have been able to blow a hard-boiled egg out of its shell. However, this was short-lived, as instructions were given and attempts were made repeatedly until others were also successful.
Just as well. I don’t want to have to clean the microwave every time I prove my method effective.
Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.