You know that moment when half the egg white comes off with the shell? I used to make the ugliest deviled eggs on the block. Then I saw someone shake an egg inside a jar, and the shell basically fell off.

Why eggs are so annoying to peel

Fresh eggs cling to the shell membrane. The older the egg, the easier it peels. If you boil eggs the same day you buy them, you are fighting a losing battle.

The shake method gets around all of that with zero skill.

The shake and crack method

1. Boil your eggs, then drop them straight into ice water for a minute.
2. Put one egg in a glass jar with a little water.
3. Close the lid and shake hard for a few seconds until the shell is cracked all over.
4. Peel it. The shell slides off in big pieces.

The cracking loosens the membrane, and the water does the rest. It works best when you shake one or two eggs at a time, not five.

What I learned the hard way

I shook too gently at first because I was scared of smashing the egg. Cracking is the whole point. You want the shell covered in tiny fractures. And do not skip the ice bath, or the egg keeps cooking and the yolk turns gray.

For eggs you can peel in one pull, buy them a week before you boil them. But the jar trick makes even fresh eggs behave.