In praise of the egg cooker
 

I always scoffed at special egg cookers, thinking they were just one more countertop appliance for something you could do just as well on your own. You know the jokes about how easy it is to boil an egg!

Well...we were renting a vacation apartment and there was a cute little electric egg cooker in the cabinet, and we said 'what the heck, let's try it." You just put some measured water in the bottom, put the eggs on the rack, put the cover on and plug the sucker in. A few minutes later we were enjoying PERFECTLY cooked eggs with absolutely no fuss.

Bought one on Amazon that moment, and it was awaiting our return home. I've since experimented with various numbers of eggs and desired doneness, and each batch has turned out to perfection. Essentially, you just start it up and then ignore the thing until the buzzer goes off, and the eggs are cooked to your specification.

Pan.Boiling water.Egg.Time.
How diifficult is that ? :D

Works for me every time.:)

Not difficult, but the pan doesn't shut off at the specified time, so you might be more likely to overcook the eggs if you don't pay attention to the timer. I had to buy a dedicated timer with an obnoxious alarm because the timer in my microwave just wasn't loud enough to get my attention if I wasn't in the kitchen. That said, I don't think I would need an egg cooker cluttering up my countertop, thank you very much!

It's only a few minutes ......:)

My rice cooker came with a little tray with divots in it to cook eggs. I used it a few times before I lost it in a move.

It is insulting to a rice cooker to expect it to do an egg. It cuts against the grain.

:p

What happens if you want egg fried rice ? ;)

As a showbizguru you will know that for that you need to emply a comedian. They are the only people authorised to crack a yoke.

:p

Nonsense!

The residual "keep warm" heat from a rice cooker that has just made rice is one of the simplest ways to make Japanese style soft "boiled" eggs
http://tastytreats.wordpress.com/200.../onsen-tamago/

My rice cooker even has egg indentations in the little steamer, just like tcl's had - so when I want standard boiled eggs I steam them in the rice cooker for around 6 minutes. My guess is that milepig's contraption is just doing the same thing.

Nope, there's the army as well.
What would boiled eggs be without soldiers ?
In fact my eggs turn out perfectly if I put two eggs in boiling water and two slices of bread in the toaster.
By the time they're brown,buttered and soldiered the eggs are perfect.

It was a bleedin' yoke for gawd sake .....

Soldiers are de rigeur I agree. As long as they are cut off at all flanks.

My soldiers sometimes come from the Australian army.
When I spread them with Vegemite. :D

oh, like the idea however my very simplistic rice cooker does not have a "keep warm" setting. It is either cook or off.what model/brand?

For conventional rice cookers (those without the overly complicated computer chip) there are 2 types, the cook-warm type and the cook-off type. Eggs can be cooked in both of them. Just put water in the inner pan and the steamer insert in the first type and press the button. There should be a water level indicator to follow on the inner pan, the steamer insert or in the booklet that came with the rice cooker. For the second type, water is also put in the inner pan and eggs into an ad hoc steamer that goes inside or if there is an above steamer, the eggs are actually steamed but it does take longer.

The accessory divot tray for eggs is so much easier as it holds the eggs in the correct position. Sadly, my rice cooker is ancient and they don't sell accessories for it any more :(

Anyone try cooking an egg in the actual water with the rice? Should work to boil. And if the egg yolk and white seeps out, the egg becomes part of the rice. No harm done I think.

I wish people would stop suggesting gadgets I thought I didn't need .....:D

Just ordered from Amazon for a weekend of egginess ....


http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxNj..._id=880000500F

http://www.ukironmonger.com/image/ca...IN-220x172.jpg

... and

http://www.heritage-gifts.co.uk/imag...ceggdblcer.jpg

Let us know how you like it. I bought a very similar one.

I will. I guess I was egged on by others.

:)

The egg steamer/cooker works better because it holds the egg at the right angle so that the yolk is perfectly centered so that the egg cooks evenly. Also if the egg needs to be transformed into something else such as deviled eggs.

What really gets me is that when shopping, I can't find little steamer trays for eggs like the one that came with my rice cooker, but am offered an entire appliance that I have no room for. :td:

To have perfectly centered yolks cooking over boiling water requires frequent stirring.

I have a zoji that has a bigger brain than me. Wouldn't use it for eggs as they are really expensive to buy in the UK. £200 for the zoji and £12 for the egg cooker, and I'm presuming the egg cooker will be better at eggs than the zoji.

Since this is an egg thread...I actually prefer poached eggs in milk to boiled, fried, or scrambled. Doesn't seem particularly common, though. I despise those watery, powdered scrambled eggs you find on so many hotel buffets. Nasty stuff

Now how about a perfect omelet machine ?

On a eggstended topic related to the above!

It is interesting how few chefs can cook an omelette. They either do fried, or scrambled, or souffléd .. but most seem incapable of a real omelette. Some kitchens use this as a part of the interview process.

It takes a real man to make an omelette.

:)

I just put them in a pot of cold water turn the gas on then usually forget all about them.

Sometimes I have them soft, sometimes hard. I like them either way.

Were you egg-static about it ?

You need to light the gas. This is where you differentiate between really soft or not!

:p

Which style do you make your omlettes?

I am very fussy. For one person. No content, just egg.

1. Very good eggs.

2. 1 egg plus two yokes. Or if really hungry, two eggs and three yokes. A touch of sea salt. Loosely mixed but not beaten.

3. Melt slightly too much unsalted butter to pre-noisette stage in a very small omelette pan. Add a little of the butter to the egg mix.

4. pour the egg into the hot butter in the omelette pan.

5. This is the key thing! Let the egg cook, but then draw the edges into the middle of the pan with a spoon and then swirl the pan and let the uncooked egg drift from the middle into the spaces around the edge that was vacated. Spoon the edges from the edges to the middle and re swirl to fill the vacated edges with egg etc.

it shouldn't have air in it. Not souffléd. Not all one colour. You should see yellow and white. It should have wave wrinkles where you have drawn the edge egg into the middle. It must still be very very slightly loose and not rock solid.

It should he deposited onto a warm plate.

Oh dear ... I sound like a complete idiot.

ipaditis double post

Yes...far too much faffing about man.

I use two or three eggs whisk them up adding some salt n pepper. Omelette pan will be on a high heat with a mix of butter and virgin....bung the mixture in turn off the heat and cover with a plate.

Voila....a perfect omelette or a bloody mess. They all taste the same anyway.

Whatever else ... if you whisk ... it isn't an omelette.

:)

Stop being so flippin' pernickety.....:p

Actually I did use to mix with an egg whisk and it turned out quite nice. However I do try and avoid creating too much washing up so a fork now suffices.

So you were bleedin' showin' orf .... no WHISK! Just a bleedin' FORK! You were eggsagerating. A whisk makes a soufflé, a fork just might be an omelette!

Egg bolier on it's way back to Amazon! And the egg topper! Neither work! :(

The egg boiler and topper .... neither designed for small under-done eggs. Can't be faffed. Soldiers were eggstatic! Eggsellent!! They go on to fight another day. Egg. Poo.:td:

[IMG]http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6ea831ef.jpg[/IMG]

Funny, I just happen to be watching an old episode of "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" tonight where Ramsay is demanding that some 21 year old supposed chef cook him an omelette. Total fail.

Never saw that!

It is a superb test. Everyone thinks they can cook an omelette. They think it's easy. I use to have a club in Soho. We asked chefs looking for work to cook a plain omelette for one, a medium rare steak (132f) and a risotto. If they could do all three and we liked them then they got the job.

Very funny episode. "For the first time this week, I'm starting to sh*t myself."

He was clearly "Edwina Curried" by the omelette!

:)

I think so. "You're cooking like a f*ing tw*t". :)