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There is a difference between cracking non-organic (NOG) eggs and Organic (OG) eggs. With NOG, you want to hold one in each hand, rap firmly on a flat surface, (cutting board or counter top) then separate the shell in two halves. With OG, it's the same procedure, just rap more firmly.

Also, breaking eggs against the rim of something is a great way to drive salmonella bacteria into the egg itself. A flat surface is best.

I always used to crack my eggs right into the bowl, willy-nilly, until I read a post from delicious days about their first time cracking a rotten egg. Nasty! Now I always crack into a separate bowl, especially since I started using our neighbor's homegrown eggs instead of supermarket eggs. We haven't had a problem, but you never know...

One of the methods they teach in culinary school for separating eggs is to crack the whole egg into a shallow bowl and then slide your fingers under the yolk. Lift up with your fingers slightly apart and the yolk in the palm. The whites will strain through your fingers. Sounds like it wouldn't work, but it really does! Also, the older the egg, the more likely the yolk will break on you and get into the white no matter how careful you try to be. :)

I love that egg-cracking scene from Sabrina! Sadly, all my attempts to reproduce the manoeuver have failed miserably (shells in the bowl, egg spattered everywhere, not pretty). Like Zora, I crack eggs on a flat surface and then separate the shells with two hands.

After watching the Japanese steak house chefs (of varying abilities) drop eggs during their routines, I started just dropping eggs into the pan. I haven't had to pick out a shell since because the egg breaks and cracks on it's own weaknesses instead of, say, along the edge of a bowl where the bowl splinters off pieces.

Obviously it doesn't work when your making a cake or something, but an extra bowl is worth it.

And I can crack eggs with one hand. :)

The first time I ever tried cracking two eggs, one in each hand, I did it as a joke for a body-building dorm-neighbor in college. I actually pulled it off with no effort, as well as the remaining 10 eggs in the carton (that guy ate a lot of eggs). Just rap them against the edge of the bowl quickly, gently separate the halves, and let the egg drop in. In cooking school, ten years later, my fellow students and I were taught to knock the egg firmly against a flat top and either open it with a half in each hand, or to separate the yolk from white, to separate it into a cupped hand with fingers slightly splayed so that the white sieves through your fingers. As for salmonella, though anything is possible, I don't worry too much with pasteurized eggs. I've never gotten a bad egg, either, though I am careful about cavalier cracking when I'm making something that needs a lot of eggs.

I was just wondering the other day whether eggs have "changed" somehow as I used to be able to crack eggs with one hand, and always did it against the side of a bowl. But now, with one hand or two, the side of the bowl method results in a badly splintered crack and little bits of shell detritus in the bowl. I am going to try the flat surface method.

As for separating, I used to pass the contents of the egg between the two halves of the shell until the white had dripped into the bowl, and just the yolk was left in the shell. But with the jankity cracks I'm getting, this is a surefire way to get shell into the bowl, so I've been separating with my hands lately.

I used to do one per hand, 2 at a time, on the edge of the bowl. Index and middle finger held one half and thumb and pinky held the other. Arch your hand and you are done. I don't cook with eggs much anymore though.

I used to do it on the side of the bowl until I saw this episode of Jacques Pepin where he was gently correcting those who do it that way. Basically he said that its a great way to end up picking out little bits of shell. If you crack on a flat surface and jab your thumb in, its messier but you never end up with little bits of shell to pick out. This is the way I do it now and its a lot easier. Also if you ever do get bits of shell it helps to use the remaining shell to fish them out because it cuts right through, unlike using your fingers where the little bits seem to be constantly moving out of reach like quicksand.

I always tap the egg on the counter, jab the thumbs in, and break the shell in half.

if seperating the egg, I pass it back and forth in the egg shells.

It's pretty rare for me to get a bit of shell in my food.... so I like the counter method.

I always crack an egg against another one; the weaker egg will crack and it breaks in such a way that I never have to worry about shells.

Ditto on the passing the yolk between the shell halves to separate, but I think I'll have to try the finger-palm method.

Something my baking chef-instructor pointed out is when pouring a bowl of broken eggs into a batter, egg shell will always stick to the bottom of the bowl and not go into the batter. He did an extreme demo of this where he left huge and tiny chunks of shell in a bowl, and sure enough, they all stuck. Still, I'm OCD and fish them out. It's really rare that I break eggs directly into a mix anymore.

I crack an egg against a flat surface and use my thumbs to pry it open. I think I learned that from Alton Brown, who apparently is in the same school of thought as Jacques Pepin.

As for separating, I use the palm method. Messy but I always wash my hands after handling eggs anyway.

I don't eat eggs. Therefore, I don't need to worry about whether I'm doing it "right" or "wrong."