I've been cracking mine by rapping it once or twice on the counter top ever since Alton Brown taught me to.

i love the satisfaction of cracking an egg on the counter with the perfect amount of force: gentle enough to not make a mess, but strong enough to feel like i know what i'm doing and break the shell into to perfect pieces.

I agree with the first two posters - I never understood why people crack them on the edge of a bowl... It seems to me this slices the membrane that holds the cracked pieces together.... Tapping it on the counter cracks it but keeps the little pieces in place.

I'm told I'm unique in this from quite a few people -- but I actually use my knuckles. I just hold the egg in my left palm, tap with my right in a quick motion, making sure to pull back. Clean break, and I can probably count the number of shells on one hand in the years I've been doing this. The best part is that there's no messiness on the counter.

I'm probably a little different...

I always shake the egg first until I hear the yolk bouncing around - to disconnect the membrane from the shell. And then I tap it on the counter, before fully breaking it over the bowl.

I break it on the bowl or the pan. I've never tried/heard of breaking it on the counter--or with your knuckle, for that matter!

Any tips on cracking it only using one hand?
You know....cracking and getting the inside in the bowl, discarding shell all with one hand.

I started using the countertop when I heard that you're more likely to get shell in the egg when you crack it on the side of the bowl. I can crack one handed - takes some practice - though I often break the yolks that way, so I only do it when I'm gonna scramble it anyway. Maybe i just need more practice :)

bali2, practice makes perfect. My dad used to do that when I was a kid, so I practiced until I could do it too. I always get egg all over that hand though, so usually I use 2 hands to separate the shell when I'm cooking-it save hand-washing time. I only crack one-handed when there is someone around to impress. :)

I'm actually better at neatly breaking eggs when I do it one handed than I am with both hands. First, I tap it against the counter, then I poke my thumb in the hole and sort
of lift off the top. Because the egg breaks so slowly, the bits of shell stick to the membrane, like Ta said above. Also, since it pours out slowly and the shell shards are tiny, the yolk usually survives intact.

I need to try this countertop thing. I usually use the side of the bowl, but it sometimes ends up with a little egg running down the outside of the bowl. Too much force I guess.

I don't like getting egg goo on the counter so I crack eggs on the edge of the bowl or pan I'm using. They always come out fine - intact yolk, no shards of shell in the egg. One or two good taps does the trick. I find that if I smash up the shell too much (too hard, or too many taps) then bits of shell are more likely to fall in.

either i am weird or my eggs are... i absolutely cannot avoid getting shell in the bowl unless i whack the egg, quickly and firmly, over the corner of something then pull it apart with my thumbs. i've done it that way my whole life so maybe it's just a case of practice makes perfect?

The curved inside of the bowl, a couple of inches down from the rim is a good compromise. It eliminates the risk of getting shell into the mix as happens with the edge. It also allows any mess to run straight into the bowl. But that said, I still usually use the countertop. Few gentle cracks on both sides and then tear it apart over the bowl. works perfectly.

I crack eggs against the flat surface of the counter, but I do it on a paper napkin. I use super cheap paper napkins all the time in the kitchen.

I crack my eggs on the flat bit of my stainless steel sink. Or my cutting board, if I've got it out.

Accept the odd bit of shell as inevitable? Big enough bits are simple enough to fish out, and teeny-tiny bits as, well, something that will disappear during the cooking the process.

(Edge of bowl is what I do)

I flounder between edge of bowl (not so successful) and gentle whack of knife (better outcomes), but still have a 50% success rate for not fishing out chunks of egg shell. Looks like I need to try the much-celebrated counter approach (although I'm intrigued by the knuckles...).

If there's only egg (and shell) in the bowl, I've taken to tilting the bowl to one side (generally, this allows the shell to remain near the bottom or side of the bowl - still suspended in some white), sticking my finger on top of the shell, and then sliding the whole affair upwards along the edge of the bowl. Works (almost) every time.

Last weekend I was doing the counter top trick but when I went to empty the egg from it's shell into the bowl, nothing came out and I found it had escaped from the tiny crack and was waiting for me on the counter itself!
I don't think I used any more pressure than I normally did when it worked perfectly, and maybe this particular egg had gone on a diet, but now I'm too scared to try it again.. :(

Oh! That's my photo, and I used the back of a knife to crack it, then pulled it apart with my thumbs. I find it minimizes small bits of shell.

Ever since Alton B said never to use the edge of a bowl, because it pushed the shell INTO the egg, and increases the odds of both having to fish out shell AND putting germs into the egg, I've been a countertop gal.

When I used to cook professionally, and cracked dozens of eggs a day making quiches, I did the one-handed side of the bowl crack. :)

Against another egg. Only one ever cracks!

If I have only one egg left, I look for a rounded but hard surface. No edges.