It seems that eggs have inspired more gadgets than any other food (with the possible exception of garlic). Here's a look at some of the tools designed to poach, fry, cook, warm, crack, separate, and otherwise massage eggs into something delicious. Some of these are relics of an older, more gracious era, and others are crazy fast-food gadgets for modern times.
Of course your feelings about some of these gadgets will depend on how you cook. Maybe you have one of these and use it every day and love it. Then great! It deserves a place in your kitchen.
TOP ROW
1 Copper Egg Steamer — This gorgeous egg steamer steams up to 3 eggs right at the table. Oh to have a seaside palace in Portugal with a butler and a copper egg steamer! $64.95 at Sur La Table.
2 Porcelain Egg Coddlers — Coddled eggs are lovely, a cross between poached and soft-boiled. $18 at Sur La Table.
3 Egg Topper — A pair of special scissors to help cut off the top of an soft-boiled egg. This one is unnecessarily expensive but very pretty. $39.95 at Williams-Sonoma.
4 3-in-1 Egg Slicer — Slices hard-boiled eggs for salads and sandwiches. $16 at Williams-Sonoma.
5 Chef’sChoice Electric Egg Cooker — We know people who swear by this thing. It reliably cooks eggs anywhere from soft-boiled to hard-boiled. $39.95 at Williams-Sonoma.
BOTTOM ROW
6 Egg Fry Rings — For those perfectly round fried eggs. $15 at Williams-Sonoma
7 Peter Petrie Egg Separator — Crazy! Gross! Funny! $12.99 at What On Earth.
8 Egg Cuber — Hello, bento. $2.99 at The Kitchen Store.
9 The Egg Cracker — Well, this is one way to crack eggs one-handed! $7.99 at Amazon.
Have you found any of these gadgets practical? Or are they all pointless and silly? Do you know of any other very silly egg gadgets?
Related: The 10 Most Useless Kitchen Gadgets
(Images: Cookware manufacturers)










Comments (16)
I have one of those ceramic egg separators (given as a gift) and I will never use it--I always just transfer the yolk in between the cracked shells, and I don't have to dirty up a dish.
Most of those look pretty useless, except the egg cooker (and I HATE uni-taskers--this is the only one I swear by). If you like hard boiled eggs, you can't beat it. Not that hard boiling eggs is hard, but there does seem to be a bit of skill to get them just right--but with this thing, I don't have to think about it, and they come out perfect every single time. It's great because we have chickens so we have LOTS of eggs and end up hard boiling many of them.
The Egg-stractor. An inverted plunger to push the hard-boiled eggs right out of their shell.
I got one and ended up blowing more eggs up than out of their shells.
I have an egg slicer, and use it when I make egg salad. It was a lot less than $16. I want the egg cuber, just for fun. I wouldn't want any of the others, especially the egg separator, which looks disgusting.
Our office has an electric egg cooker, and we like it a lot! Makes good poached eggs, soft and hard boiled eggs.
Great for a quick breakfast and easy to clean. Wouldn't buy it for my house though...
I love, love, love my Cuisinart egg cooker. I like my eggs somewhere between soft and medium, and the cooker makes them exactly right every time.
I bought one for my parents, too, and they love it.
I love the egg cuber but mostly because I know there are lots of other shapes like hearts and stars.
I make hard boiled eggs in my veggie steamer all the time, so it's not a unitasker (but does the same job). other than that.. I have a slicer which is AWESOME and I love it.. think it cost $2 :)
I was given some egg coddlers, which I have yet to use. The only reason I'm keeping them is because I have the cabinet space for them. Anyone had coddled eggs? Should I keep them?
I've got an egg slicer than I bought for cheap that I've used for hard-boiled eggs and slicing mushrooms. The egg cuber is interesting but not for me. I HATE egg separators! I use the shell or my hands. Couldn't you make coddled eggs in ramekins?
Ah, the square egg press! My gran was a lover of all things formica, plastic and Fanny Craddock inspired. I remember as a kid boiling up eggs specifically so I could put them in the press. She was also the one who I got the Royal Doulton porcelain egg coddlers from.
I could eat eggs all day long.... warm, buttery scrambled.....mmmmmmmm delicious.
I grew up with an egg slicer and loved it. It makes making tuna fish, egg salad and salad toppings so much easier... And it's pretty fun too...
And the trick that makes the egg slicer completely worth it is to slice the egg once, pick it up whole, re-open the slicer, put the egg back in turned 90 degrees and slice again. Voila -- chopped eggs in two simple steps.
I use my egg slicer alll the time. Makes nicely chunky egg salad if you make a second cut with the egg longways! Now, let me tell you, that contraption that makes the eggs square was given to me by my mother. I used it once, but a square egg isn't very appealing to me. I sent it off to charity and I'm sure someone is enjoying their square eggs. In my opinion, everything else is, although that egg steamer is pretty, useless to me...but that egg steamer is very appealing.
We made a special trip to London (from Paris) to buy these glass egg coddlers http://www.jenaer-glas.com/html/wagenfeld_e.htm. I love coddled eggs - better than just soft boiled or poached b/c I can add things like herbs, butter, chopped tomato, cheese, etc. to the egg before cooking it. It looks fancy (nice when we have guests to impress) but is as easy as dropping a bit of butter in the cup, cracking in an egg and adding any seasonings. As opposed to omlettes or scrambled eggs, I don't have to stand over the stove.
Since they're just clear glass, we also use them to serve individual portions of dipping sauces (aioli, curry, mayonnaise, chocolate, etc.) or mini desserts. You can bake in them as well.
I grew up with an egg slicer in the house - it was great for salads.
Otherwise, most of the other stuff is junk.
DO YOU REALLY NEED AN EGG CRACKER? Isn't that what the edge of the bowl is for?!?
I had the egg cuber, and was disappointed. You have to leave the egg in there for a long time, by which time you've forgotten why you wanted a square egg.
@cmw6v8 - I've tried hard boiling the eggs from the farmer's market and they are a BEAR to peel, we're guessing because they're too fresh. Your eggs must be even fresher - is this an issue you deal with?