Look! "Kitchen Gadget" - What Is It?

When I saw this small package at a cooking shop in San Francisco, I knew I had to have it. What is it? It's a... it's... a... kitchen gadget!

I mean, I know there are many, many kitchen gadgets out there — many unitaskers to lure us into purchase with promises of ease and convenience, only to clutter up our cupboards for years afterwards.

But I had never seen a kitchen tool labeled so clearly and unabashedly: Kitchen Gadget.

Do you know what this is? Any guesses?

It's an egg pricker! An egg pricker, or egg piercer, is a little pin you set the egg on. It pierces a pinprick hole in a raw egg, and supposedly it keeps the egg from cracking while boiling.

I've never used such a thing and my boiled eggs turn out just fine, but apparently in some countries (like Germany, according to the good people at KIOSK) people wouldn't dream of boiling an egg without using an egg pricker on it first. Have you ever used one?

Do you have a mystery gadget lurking in your kitchen? Maybe you unearthed something strange during your Kitchen Cure work? Send us a photo and we'll post it.

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (28)

Is it sad that I guessed the use? I don't own one, but I knew they existed.

The people at Kiosk are right: Here in Germany egg prickers are quite common. My parents have one for example... But actually you don't really need one (Isn't that the problem with many kitchen gadgets?), I usually use a screw or a needle to prick eggs before cooking.

They are awesome. They are most useful for soft boiled eggs when you want to reach that liquid-yolk-solid-white level of perfection. If you put the eggs in cold water and start the boil, they will not crack. However, that introduces many variables to the cooking time calculation. If you put the eggs in boiling water, you eliminate variations arising from the time it takes to heat the water, but you increase the probability that the eggs will crack. So, egg pricker boiling water, FTW!

My mom always used one when I was growing up. I never do. To each his own, I guess.

Wow! I've never heard of such a thing before. I want to go boil some eggs now.

That's one of the best things I've seen all day.

http://www.abreadaday.com

I love these! My grandmother ALWAYS pricked my soft boiled eggs growing up. We had a red pricker and a yellow pricker... they corresponded with the egg cups so gloriously. I loved tapping off the top of a hot soft boiled egg and dipping toast strips in.

I recently (as an adult) asked her where these egg accessories went and she's forgotten all about their existence in her home. How sad! I miss my egg pricker days... they were wonderful. What a good gadget!

I was taught to use a pushpin by some friends in Norway. It seems a bit more convenient than this gadget to store.

I've got one of these and my mom always used one when I was growing up (perhaps influenced by her father's German roots?). My boyfriend is skeptical but after using them for a few hard and soft-boileds the other day and seeing how easily the eggs peeled - I'm sold. I think maybe the teeny bit of water that can get in through the hole makes the shell adhere less strongly to the egg white. Who knows! :)

Amusing, but not a multi-tasking tool, is it? :)

Laura
grafxnerd.tumblr.com

An old boyfriend of mine once lived in an apartment that had one of these, shaped like a fried egg and mounted on a wall. Instead of asking first, I pushed that tempting golden sphere with my finger AS I asked, "What is this?" and then of course screamed in pain so I could barely hear his laughing explanation.

So yes, I did know what that was.

I don't usually prick eggs, but I've found that when I do prick them, they are an breeze to peel. So I guess it's worth pricking eggs if you're peeling a dozen eggs for a cocktail party.

I used to have one as well. : )

Growing up, my mom always used it (we're a european/asian family) so when I eventually moved into my own place and had my own kitchen, I felt like the egg pricker was missing. But I have since boiled many hundreds of eggs without the pricker and it seems to be working just fine. Perhaps the Egg Pricker industry's marketing people are just really succesful in Germany and elsewhere but not in the US

In 1987 I bought a combination egg pricker-egg timer at a a tiny German grocery store for under 1 DM. It still is in use, and really helps boil eggs so they don't crack.

So funny! Where do you even find a gadget like that? I'm all about the gadgets! :) Does it have any other uses?

I'd like to say something sarcastic but all the people here, who say they use them seem so attached to them, I don't like to be hurtful.

I HATE it when its hard to peel the shell off a hard boiled egg - I never knew this gadget existed - I've never seen one in the UK - but if it helps peel eggs then I must have one!! - I've had a strange desire for boiled eggs all week ...

Belgian girl with an egg pricker here!

I peeled a dozen eggs this weekend to make deviled eggs for a cocktail party. This would have been handy. Will try pricking them with a needle next time.

Thanks!

We always pricked eggs growing up. I never realized, though, that it was probably a habit my family brought with them from Frankfurt.

I just use a straight pin from the sewing box.

The name is amusing!

Hi: I guessed it right away. I could not survive without mine, especially when making a dozen hard boiled eggs for egg salad. Wonderful instrument11

Love the packaging!

I've used one all my life and when I set up my own kitchen, I went out looking for one to buy. I think we got ours from BB&B, so they're not hard to find here (though now that you mention it, my grandmother was German... maybe this is all a German plot after all!)

My mom had one of those egg boilers growing up and it came with its own pricker, although it looked nothing like this one.

To Violetrose : Better take a pregnancy test! Ha ha! :)

I broke my last "ie pic" this morning. My mother brought it as a token of her vacation in Germany about 40 years ago. They are wonderful although, admittedly, the air pocket on eggs is not always on the full end, so while they are generally effective in preventing cracked egg shells while boiling, they do have their limitations. I now have to start my search for a replacement.