Egg prickers: Useful or useless?
By Never teh Bride
Like KIOSK’s description says: Germans will tell you that it’s impossible to boil eggs without one of these. Being that my family is comprised partly of off-the-boat German immigrants, I grew up eating boiled eggs that had been violated with an egg pricker.
This device supposedly keeps eggs from cracking while they’re doing their little boiling water dance, but I’ve eaten many an smooth-shelled boiled egg since growing up and moving away without the benefit of an egg pricker. I live without it, but you can take away my egg cups when you pry them from my cold dead hands.
I’d wager that something like 90% of my acquaintances and colleagues have never seen an egg pricker, much less used one. Have you? If so, has it positively impacted your egg cooking experiences?
December 27th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I’ve never used one. Some eggs crack, some don’t.
December 27th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Nope. I’ve never seen one. I thought I was one up because I know, have and use a “pie bird”.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I’ve seen one. I’ve tried to use it. I cracked the egg with the damn thing.
A splash of vinegar in the water means that even if the egg cracks, it stays together rather than leaking out.
It IS useful if you want to have a career as a Ukranian egg painter, though.
December 29th, 2007 at 8:42 am
I remember one from my childhood, but it must have disappeared somewhere as so many kitchen implements do. . In my head, it ranks with the countertop pasta-boiler for sheer uselessness. My parents still prick their eggs, but with a pin. Same effect from something that takes a fraction of the space.
December 29th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I believe this picture is next to the definition of “unitasker” in the Alton Brown dictionary. Unitaskers baaaad.
December 29th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
I so want a pie bird now, Toby Wollin.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
My mother always made a careful hole in the bottom of our eggs with the tine of a fork. I still do the same thing. Never heard of an egg-pricker, though - not much German in our family.
January 4th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
My egg slicer also had and egg pricker (my new one does not), but we never used it. Don’t like it. Would probably break the eggs.
The best way to do hard-boiled eggs is to actually steam them in a steamer. They always come out perfect!
Luv
Poochie
January 6th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Have one, use it, love it. Also love my egg cups and my evil-Mickey-Mouse egg decapitator. I lived in Germany for some of my formative years…