Comments on: Unitasker Wednesday: Electric egg cooker

By: Jeni

Jeni — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:31:32 +0000

Hey! I have this in my closet somewhere…would of never of known it was there until my roommate started using it…that’s so funny…

By: Laetitia in Australia

Laetitia in Australia — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:11:19 +0000

Egg-cookers are uni-takers sure, but they’re efficient at what they do. I’d get one if I found a small one (I’m the only person in my house that eats eggs). I first saw an egg-cooker in Germany during 2003 (they’re not common in Australian households) and fell in love with it because I like soft-boiled eggs but tend to overdo them.

I now have a plastic cup device for poaching an egg in the microwave and a little thing that is the size and shape of an egg to time boiled eggs. You put it in the saucepan with room-temp water and your eggs and it changes colour so you know when to take your eggs off the boil.

The egg-boiler timer works fine but I’d still like an egg-cooker. Why? Because they’re great for people living in drought affected areas or who rely on rainwater tanks for whom a whole pot of water for one or two eggs (never mind letting water run over them and down the drain to cool them) is an extravagance they can’t afford. They also save having to hang around in the kitchen watching a pot. As I see it they save time, water and energy.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:10:23 +0000

I still have and use my little yellow Sunbeam Egg-Cetra (2) egg cooker that I received as a present some 40 years ago and it is still cooking great hard boiled eggs — fantastic product from Sumbeam!!!

By: Hardycat

Hardycat — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:56:22 +0000

I LOVE my egg cooker. Soft, hard, poached – it’s great! I can cook 7 at a time (can poach 2 at a time) and it’s better than my convection toaster oven!

By: Angela

Angela — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:30:42 +0000

Oops. Allie, sorry about the misspelling. Also, I love Unitasker Wed. It usually cracks me up. Today is just one of those days where they just don’t understand how some of us cannot do something as simple as boil eggs.

By: Angela

Angela — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:28:22 +0000

I checked out the link to Amazon posted by Alli Orange. You know how Amazon often links items together and says “customers who bought this item, also bought this item”? The link is to an electric egg cooker (Oster 4716 Egg Cooker). No kidding.

BTW I love mine. I can boil 7 eggs or poach 4. I’m also going to buy a food steamer as a Christmas present to myself, so thanks Alli Orange for the recommendation.

By: Donna

Donna — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 17:23:35 +0000

For perfect eggs: 15 minutes in the rice steamer. Run under cold water til you remember to put them in the fridge.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:47:36 +0000

I thought these egg-cookers were frivolous too….. until I discovered the consistent results (among other benefits) you can get from it. Hankscraft started making them in the early 20th century. Their final model in the 1960’s is like a flying saucer sitting on your counter. Handy little aluminum cups for poaching too.

They’re also ideal for hurried weekday mornings. You can set it up before going to bed, and plug it into the timer along with the percolator. Your coffee AND hard boiled (or poached) egg are waiting when you get up. I picked up a Sunbeam Egg-cetera, still in the original box, for all of $7 on eBay, looks like a large egg, perhaps Sunbeam’s fun-nest appliance. Use distilled water with them to avoid build-up/corrosion. Earlier Sunbeam egg-cookers have glass poaching dishes, however, a little pyrex cup does the job just as well, and sizes the cooked egg perfectly for your English muffin……

By: Nancy Gragg

Nancy Gragg — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:12:10 +0000

I just searched for egg-cetera and found this. the one pictured is much too large for me. Mine holds only two eggs and, since I’m the only one eating them, it is great. I can put my eggs on, take a bath, get dressed and my eggs are perfect every time. I used to use it for poached eggs, but the little plastic insert to poach eggs developed holes. Glad some of you have time to watch eggs boil and be there the minute they are ready – because I’m don’t. Thanks Sunbeam for a solution

By: The Bum

The Bum — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 19:47:48 +0000

I haven’t read through all the comments, but I recently got an egg cooker and love it (don’t remember the brand). I wanted to start eating more eggs for the protein, but I have never been able to successfully boil an egg (I’m sure it’s a personality disorder of some type). With this little gadget, they come out perfectly. The poaching feature is also great and fast and there’s no mess. I’ve gone from eating almost no eggs to eating a dozen or more a week. I’m all for getting rid of kitchen gadgets, but this one’s a keeper.

By: David

David — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 01:16:51 +0000

I try to subscribe to the AB (Alton Brown) school of scoffing at unitaskers, but a good egg poacher/cooker is something I can’t pass up. “Just plop the pot on the stove and dump in the eggs” may work for many people, but not for me. I use my current device (which I suspect is much smaller than the pictured model) to poach eggs far more often than boiling them, but in both cases I consider the time saved and convenience of not having to watch a pot (or forget about it) well worth the relatively small expense and far less than a cubic foot required for its storage. I could use it to make omelettes as well, though I do not because I am a fan of much larger omelettes than its size can handle.

I won’t snipe at the blog authors about this unitasker (though I would argue that it isn’t a unitasker, to start with), but it does seem to me that there’s a lot more basic utility to this device than most others I’ve seen in its space. Not everyone has the time or skill to cook eggs as close to perfection as a well-designed unit can.

By: Keera

Keera — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:56:32 +0000

I grew up in a family that often served soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, boiled in a pan on the stove. When I won my egg cooker in a raffle, I was initially disappointed, since I already knew how to boil eggs. But the egg cooker saves water and energy and delivers a predictable result every time, especially important with soft-boiled eggs which I want with a firm white and a runny yolk. My toaster and coffee maker are unitaskers, too, come to think of it, but I won’t part with them.

By: Jason Baker

Jason Baker — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:40:34 +0000

There is the small segment of the population to consider who may be able to eliminate their need for a stove/oven combo by grabbing a couple of “unitasker” cooking devices. A friend of mine has recently moved from into a small office/workspace and converted it into a livable apartment, with the assistance of a mini fridge, Foreman grill, and microwave. If you know someone with a penchant for a particular kind of food who doesn’t do much other cooking, going unitasker is certainly an option, and probably saves energy, too.

By: lind

lind — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:40:52 +0000

I cook eggs in a steamer cooker for 20 minutes, the same steamer cooker I use almost daily to make hot cereal and rice and to cook veggies.

By: Minnie

Minnie — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:40:57 +0000

I just wanted to say that I love Unitasker Wednesday! LOVE IT! It is fun to see these unitaskers, which may or may not actually be super useful; for the right person.
When I see Unitasker Wednesday in my Google Reader, I click right away to see it, it’s usually funny, interesting, and draws a lot of comments which I really love to read too.
So today I learned there is a machine to cook eggs, I mean I seriously had no idea! Some people love it, some people can do without, and I also learned other people’s ways of boiling eggs which was also cool. Informative!
I learned that Alex doesn’t like unitasker Wednesday.
Wah-wahhhhh.
So I wanted to post MY comment, which is:
KEEP up unitasker Wednesday because it’s FUN!!!
Even the people who post and say “I hate unitasker Wednesday blah blah blah” are entertaining to me.
What can I say I’m easily amused.

By: thisisbeth

thisisbeth — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:34:20 +0000

I think the point of Unitasker Wednesday is to remind us that some things we may own are unitaskers. It should make us consider. Some items I look at and think, “Well, yes, I could use this on ocassion, but not often enough to make it worthwhile.” Others I own and realize that the space the unitasker takes up is well worth it for the amount that I use it.

Me? I’d like one of these egg cookers, ’cause I hate boiling eggs; I don’t do it often enough to become proficient at it. Yet, I’d like to eat boiled eggs more, so I might use it if I had it. However, right now it’s not worth it for me to put it in my kitchen. There are other unitaskers that I use more often that I do use that I’d rather keep.

By: K

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:31:15 +0000

My mom was in LOVE with her egg cooker. It was a Sunbeam EGG-cetera. It’s a 2-egg model. Under $10. Smaller than a baked potato. Cooks in less time as it takes less than 1/4 cup water. Doesn’t heat/steam up the kitchen. Perfect for a single or small family. She got one for her sister who also had mad love for it. I have now inherited both. One for now and a spare for when the first kicks it as this model is no longer made.

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:57:32 +0000

@Mary: Haha, thanks!

By: STL Mom

STL Mom — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:27:16 +0000

I have no problem cooking hard-boiled eggs on the stove but that gadget is so cute I want it for a pet!

By: Allie Orange

Allie Orange — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 02:15:42 +0000

I also use my electric steamer for eggs as well as vegetables. The eggs come out perfectly every time! I can do other tasks while they are safely cooking since I no longer have to mind the stove waiting for the eggs to come to a boil. Our steamer also came with a rice bowl and have found this a much easier way to make perfect, fluffy rice. Well worth the cabinet space it is taking up!

I can heartily recommend the steamer we have, the Oster 5712:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi.....tterer-20/