Sunbeam Automatic Egg Cooker -- Revisited

[philr]

After seeing Bill's post and the instruction manual from Ralph...

 

 I realize that I never thought about stacking the poacher above the egg rack.  It makes a lot of sense! Maybe that's why I have to use less water to poach eggs. I'll do it in the future!

 

 

 

[polkanut]

The instruction booklet that came with my Oster egg cooker says that you're supposed to put the poacher on the rack.  I love using mine for making deviled eggs.  No worries about the shells cracking.  I can cook 8 at a time by leaving the 8th one on the pin in the center of the rack.  Doing them this way gives me time to cool down and peel the first ones while the next batch is cooking.  This way I'm not staring at a kettle of eggs waiting to be peeled all at once.

 

P.S. Make sure you pierce your eggs before hard boiling them.  The first time I didn't, and BOY what a mess!  Stupid me.

 

[philr]

What happens whe you don't pierce the eggs?!
I'm a bit curious and I was tempted to try that a few times but I didn't!

 

[sudsmaster]

I have one of those boil-away egg cookers but wasn't particularly happy with the results. The exact amount of water needed varies not only with the result desired (soft, medium, hard) but also the number of eggs. Paradoxiclly, more eggs require LESS water in this type of device. I got tired of the fiddly water amounts and variable results. Also, by having let the thing boil dry, you wind up with hard water mineral deposits, as well as the scorched eggy bits that inevitably seem to get into the cooking water.

Then I got a Chef's Choice egg cooker from Sears. This one has a selectable timer plus a chime when the eggs are done. It takes the same amount of water for each run, regardless of level of done or number of eggs, poached or in shell. It's very reliable and reproducible, and easy to clean. It will take up to seven eggs in shells, or three poached with separate insert.

 

[polkanut]

Phil,

The heat causes pressure to build up inside making it explode!

 

 

[warmsecondrinse]

And people want to know how I can spend hours on aw.org.....

An egg cooker is on my list of things to buy once I'm settled. Thanks for the comparative info!

Piercing eggs? I'd never heard of doing that for cooking, only for blowing them out. Grandma and 2 great-grandmothers all had chickens so there was A LOT of egg cooking. My mom doesn't pierce eggs before boiling them and I never have. Every once in a while an egg would crack or there'd be a small plume of white jetted into the water, but that's it. Nope, no explosions... not even any stories thereof

I did some googling but found nothing. I did however learn about....

"Araucana, Ameraucana or Easter Egger (Olive Egger,Rainbow Layer): What's the difference?" from the Chicken Chick. There are chickens that lay blue and green eggs

Back to piercing...

Not meaning to kvetch, but what's the difference in cooking procedures? Or am I missing something obvious as I frequently do?

Thanks,

Jim

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2011/09/ameraucana-easter-egger-or-araucana.html

 

[rp2813]

I stopped piercing eggs recently because doing so would result in whites escaping into the boiling water, or the shells would crack anyway.

 

In my experiments thus far with soft and hard cooked eggs in the Sunbeam, I haven't pierced any of them and have had no trouble.

 

I think the real key to avoid cracking is to let the eggs come to room temperature before cooking.

 

[countryguy]

I have a Cuisinart egg cooker. It came with a measuring container for the water based on the number of eggs and whether soft, medium or hard boiled. It also has a pin for piercing the eggs. I use eggs right out of the fridge, pierce them on one end and then put them in the cooker. Never had a problem with cracking, etc. and the eggs come out perfect every time.

Gary

http://www.cuisinart.ca/cuisinart_product.php?item_id=135&product_id=117&cat_id=37

 

[nashmaytagbear]

I like the one I bought at the thrift store. It's adjustable.

 

[petek]

Here's my old Hankscraft.. works like a charm , Does hardboiled as well with the other rack not shown

 

[philr]

It looks like it's made of stainless steel? Must be easier to keep clean!

 

[polkanut]

You only need to pierce them if using an egg cooker.  Stove top egg cookery doesn't require it.

 

[rp2813]

Tim, thanks for the clarification.  No wonder I had issues when boiling pierced eggs!

 

[retro-man]

Found a new and easy way to make hard boiled eggs. I make a dozen at time and they come out perfect. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place whole egg, shell included into muffin tins. One egg per round. 30 minutes in the oven. I know I never heard about baking eggs but I saw it on the internet and decided to give it a try. Will never boil an egg again. No explosions.

 

[polkanut]

The reason for not having to pierce eggs cooked on the stove is that the eggs slowly warm up as the water does also.  Thus it helps keep pressure from building up like in an egg cooker where the change in temp takes place more suddenly.

 

[rp2813]

Tim, that depends on the method you're using to boil the eggs.  I've tried both ways -- eggs in water from the beginning, and eggs lowered into boiling water. 

 

I prefer the cold-start method since plunging the eggs into boiling water, even room temperature ones, seems like you're just asking for them to crack.

 

If I have eight or fewer eggs to hard cook, I'll be using the Sunbeam going forward.

 

[ovrphil]

Although I haven't tried it, a method for soft boiling is heat water under boiling point, swirl the water with a spoon or other to create , a swirling eddy. Drop egg in middle- the swirl contains the egg as it becomes poached, preventing the whites from exiting to pan edges. It makes sense, I have to try it. The key is not to let the water boil, but keep it just under the boiling point. Hmm.

But a poaching pan is more sensible for more than one poached egg - above method sounds ok for single shots.

 

[sudsmaster]

The piercer that came with my Sunbeam evaporating water egg cooker was terrible. It was integrated into the water measuring cup, but too thick to piece an eggshell without cracking it.

I found a largely plastic egg slicer with built in piercer that is much more slender and never cracks an egg. And I'd say egg breakage in the Chef's Choice egg cooker is pretty rare with such pierced eggs.