How to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

Cook's Illustrated Method

After you take the eggs off the heat and have cooled them down in cold water still in the pot, you drain the water and bounce the eggs against the bottom of the pot so they crack the shell all around the eggs. Now refill the pot of eggs with cold water and place in the refrigerator for about an hour. Take the eggs out of the water and the shells slide right off....no peeling at all.

Julia Child's Thermal Shock Method

Boil the eggs, then ice them down thoroughly. Bring some water back to the boil and submerge an egg for ten seconds or so. Then back into the ice water and peel under cold running water.

If the shell is still sticking to the white, it's back into the boiling water for a few seconds, then into the ice water once more. The theory is that rapid expansion and contraction of the shell tends to separate it from the white.