Like I said, I got my Krups for a good price. But believe me, it’s worth the counter/cupboard space if you boil eggs more than once a month. The thing uses virtually no energy, is simple to operate, and cooks consistently. I’m normally a fan of using standard equipment rather than buying a specialized gadget, but this was worth it to me.
Nay, bake your eggs for maximum success.
2 Likes
I have boiled eggs and soldiers pretty much every day. 4 minutes exactly in a pan of water.
1 Like
There’s really two different ways to go, then.
You’ve got a system, it works for you, so why buy something when you don’t have to?
I seem to remember you’re in Britain. The equivalent cost for my Krups was about £6-7. But these machines might not be readily available there, so you might not get sales on them. They might be an expensive import. (Although, y’all do boil a lot of eggs…it would be a particularly useful gadget there.)
Meanwhile, how are your utilities calculated? Our water is metered, so we pay for every gallon we use, and then double that to cover the sewer aspect of it (if you drink the water, you pee it out; if you boil a pot of water for eggs, you dump in down the sink when you’re done). Plus gas/electric as well. In the 10+ years I’ve had this gadget, it has more than paid for itself by saving me on utilities. But your utilities costs might be different.
Finally, I happen to be particularly sensitive to water usage. I used to work at UNIFEM, which really opened my eyes to the idea that the most precious thing in our world is accessible, safe drinking water. I believe major wars will be fought over it in future. So boiling a pot of water just to dump it out again doesn’t work for me. There are other things I do that would drive other people crazy, I’m sure!
End result: the calculations make sense to me to use a dedicated egg boiler. YMMV.
3 Likes
1000x yes
I just got some farm fresh eggs today and plan to do a side-by-side comparison with store eggs. I’ll probably throw in a regular boiled test as well.
1 Like
I don’t actually cook a lot of eggs whole, but I probably would buy one of those if I did. I had a microwave egg poacher for a while (which didn’t make as good eggs, but it did save a lot of time and energy and saved trouble with small kids). Now I mostly make omelets, which probably also saves quite a bit of energy over the pan of water model. I sometimes used the water from boiled eggs to add some heat to washing up water, but otherwise it was thrown out, which was a waste.
1 Like
I performed an experiment last night with some eggs that were maybe a week old. I started with a pot of cold water, added 3 eggs, brought them up to boil, removed from heat as soon as they were boiling and let them set for 18 minutes before flushing in cold water and a little ice. (Betty Crocker cookbook method.)
With 3 other eggs, I waited until the water was boiling, added them, brought it down to simmer for 20 minutes, then removed and flushed them with cold water and a little ice. (Method suggested by my cousin.) The first batch still had bits of egg tearing off with the shell. On the second batch, the shells came off flawlessly.
1 Like
Someone somewhere is willing to make a dedicated device for almost every function, if you’re willing to pay a little for it. It’s a little known corollary of Rule 34.
1 Like
I’m honestly just surprised it exists, not castigating you for owning one, mind. I just honestly never conceived of such a device. So it steams the eggs, yes? Like an autoclave for breakfasts basically? OK, I’m sold. Are there toasters that’ll cut your toast into soldiers as well? That ought to be a thing. I’d honestly chuck a couple appliances out to make space for a fancy-pants dippy-egg setup like that.
1 Like
No, sadly, you have to cut up your soldiers yourself. Life is so unfair.
I will point out – and it’s kosher on BB, for reasons that should become immediately apparent – that while you have to use a knife to cut your own toast, bananas have their own handy-dandy little slicer. And yes, there are multiple brand choices for that, too! (No, I do not own one!!)
1 Like
You do realize I am now trying to envision Rule 34 as it pertains to egg boilers? Thanks a lot.
1 Like
Aaah, nuts. I’m envisioning something like a little version of those conveyor-belt pizza ovens, but with tiny bandsaws at the end. And little nozzles to extrude butter onto the soldiers. Come on, Global Capitalism. step up your bloody game…
But that would mean the butter would be applied to the toast before it was well cooled and thus would actually melt into the nooks and crannies. It’s tyranny against the Queen to have American toast, didn’t you know?
I flinched, and I don’t even have testicles.
1 Like
The design might need some fine-tuning, yes. But melted into the toast butter is more than fine. That’s a feature, not a bug.
No True Scotsman, you!
1 Like
Best I could find, and the Telegraph link seems to be dead. Looks depressingly manual to me.
http://www.breakfastblogger.com/2005/11/28/perfect-toast-soldiers/
One should never butter the entire slice of bread. One should pull little chunks from it and apply butter directly before masticating.
That’s for rolls or sliced bread on a bread plate at dinner. Toast at breakfast is different. The Brits let their toast go cold before buttering but those of us on the other side of the pond feel strongly about having the butter melt into the still-warm toast. Cutting in half or into soldiers (long strips narrow enough to dunk into a soft-boiled egg) is the way to go at breakfast, not tearing off pieces. Unless you’re Italian and eating a roll for breakfast, that is.
One’s intent was to imply one’s betters in the UK are purveyors of pulling pieces from even cold toast.
Anything else would be considered impolite and the behaviour of a ruffian.
(I’m not sure how this extends to toast soldiers, which, if history is to be a guide, I would imagine the upper classes would be less than concerned for the total bodily integrity of.)
