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!
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.
Related: Good Question: What Is This Stringed Gadget?
(Images: Faith Durand)
Is it sad that I guessed the use? I don't own one, but I knew they existed.
view SoSue's profile
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.
view wenkexin's profile
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!
view frum's profile
My mom always used one when I was growing up. I never do. To each his own, I guess.
view kls987's profile
Wow! I've never heard of such a thing before. I want to go boil some eggs now.
view mlleErica's profile
That's one of the best things I've seen all day.
http://www.abreadaday.com
view eprewitt's profile
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!
view LiaBia's profile
I was taught to use a pushpin by some friends in Norway. It seems a bit more convenient than this gadget to store.
view angorian's profile
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! :)
view STLcolleen's profile
Amusing, but not a multi-tasking tool, is it? :)
Laura
grafxnerd.tumblr.com
view grafxnerd's profile
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.
view Joan A.'s profile
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.
view buda's profile
I used to have one as well. : )
view Dana McCauley's profile
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
view DCJax's profile
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.
view dksbook's profile
So funny! Where do you even find a gadget like that? I'm all about the gadgets! :) Does it have any other uses?
view GraceF's profile
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.
view hrhprincessfiona's profile
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 ...
view Violetsrose's profile
Belgian girl with an egg pricker here!
view tgsgirl's profile
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!
view azure's profile
We always pricked eggs growing up. I never realized, though, that it was probably a habit my family brought with them from Frankfurt.
view Jesse Lu's profile
I just use a straight pin from the sewing box.
view acushla's profile
The name is amusing!
view whytephoenix's profile
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
view Betty14's profile
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!)
view amf0001's profile
My mom had one of those egg boilers growing up and it came with its own pricker, although it looked nothing like this one.
view Cjay's profile
To Violetrose : Better take a pregnancy test! Ha ha! :)
view GraceF's profile