Yes, How You Crack An Egg Really Does Matter

It's a common kitchen mishap: you crack an egg on the rim of a bowl, and when you pull it apart above it, there are tiny shell fragments in your egg. To avoid the tedious mess of trying to pull bits of shell out of raw eggs, there is a better way to crack them: flat against the countertop.

Rather than using the rim, use your hands to hit the egg against your kitchen counter, trying to strike somewhere toward the middle of it. Ideally it will only take one strike to create a crack; once you have it, gently press your thumbs into the crack, separate the shell, and allow the innards to slip out.

Kitchen routines can be difficult to switch up once we become set in our ways. But for kitchen cleanliness, food safety, and — once you get the hang of it — convenience, the clear superiority of cracking eggs on a countertop will change how you cook.

Using your kitchen counter to crack eggs saves you many of the pitfalls of using the rim of a bowl. This method is less likely to shatter your egg shell into pieces, especially if you are able to crack the shell in one strike. 

Keeping shells out is also safer, since they can carry harmful bacteria. Although, if you're the type to sanitize and eat egg shells as a supplement or coffee additive, this method will also give you bigger shell pieces to work with.

Using the kitchen counter is more likely to keep the egg yolk intact as well, though if you were breaking yolks on the rim of a bowl before you were probably hitting the egg too hard in the first place.

Professional chefs enjoy the countertop method not only for all of the previous reasons, but also speed and efficiency. Having made the countertop method their routine, chefs can use their hands to crack multiple eggs on the counter at once, instead of one at a time with a bowl, speeding up service for egg-hungry customers.