Perfect egg-boiling contraption
April 17, 2022 1:22 AM Subscribe
When I lived in China, I used to eat breakfast in a tiny cafe around the corner that served coffee, toast, boiled eggs and nothing else. They had a machine for boiling eggs. I would like this machine, or something similar.
Basically, it was an electric kettle element at the bottom of a narrow, transparent plastic cylinder. This was really effective because 1) the kettle element is an efficient way to boil water and 2) the shape allowed you to put a column of eggs in there one above the other. It also looked nice because you could see the eggs bobbing up and down in the convection currents of the water.
(Oh, and I can’t find an image online, but I think there’s a very similar thing in the original Blade Runner movie, when the replicant’s go to Hannibal Chew’s Eye World and Roy Batty puts his hand in to the liquid nitrogen to pick out an eyeball?)
Anyway, I occasionally hunt for this machine online and have never found one that fits its description. I’ve started thinking about commissioning a prototype from a supplier in China, but maybe the hivemind can help out before I get to that stage?
Basically, it was an electric kettle element at the bottom of a narrow, transparent plastic cylinder. This was really effective because 1) the kettle element is an efficient way to boil water and 2) the shape allowed you to put a column of eggs in there one above the other. It also looked nice because you could see the eggs bobbing up and down in the convection currents of the water.
(Oh, and I can’t find an image online, but I think there’s a very similar thing in the original Blade Runner movie, when the replicant’s go to Hannibal Chew’s Eye World and Roy Batty puts his hand in to the liquid nitrogen to pick out an eyeball?)
Anyway, I occasionally hunt for this machine online and have never found one that fits its description. I’ve started thinking about commissioning a prototype from a supplier in China, but maybe the hivemind can help out before I get to that stage?
Are you 100% sure it was full of water? If you just want a boiled-egg-maker that uses a kettle-type heating element, steam, and a small amount of water, those are easy to find.
Heating up a lot more water is probably not energy-efficient and I imagine it'd make the machine substantially slower.
posted by All Might Be Well at 6:18 AM on April 17, 2022
Heating up a lot more water is probably not energy-efficient and I imagine it'd make the machine substantially slower.
posted by All Might Be Well at 6:18 AM on April 17, 2022
Pris grabs an egg from a boiler like what you're describing and tosses it to Sebastian.
Which illustrates the question I had about the device. Assuming you’re not an android, how do you remove an egg from the bottom of a narrow column of boiled water? Tongs?
posted by zamboni at 6:53 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Which illustrates the question I had about the device. Assuming you’re not an android, how do you remove an egg from the bottom of a narrow column of boiled water? Tongs?
posted by zamboni at 6:53 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Which illustrates the question I had about the device. Assuming you’re not an android, how do you remove an egg from the bottom of a narrow column of boiled water?
Very carefully. ;) I would have a metal strainer at the bottom, like this pickle container, that you raise up to elevate the eggs from the water.
OP, are you sure the restaurant used the machine to actually boil the eggs, and it wasn't just for presentation or maintaining them at a certain temperature after boiling? Could it have been their own "Hey, that's neat!" take on the Blade Runner idea, minus the boiling?
posted by xedrik at 7:13 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Very carefully. ;) I would have a metal strainer at the bottom, like this pickle container, that you raise up to elevate the eggs from the water.
OP, are you sure the restaurant used the machine to actually boil the eggs, and it wasn't just for presentation or maintaining them at a certain temperature after boiling? Could it have been their own "Hey, that's neat!" take on the Blade Runner idea, minus the boiling?
posted by xedrik at 7:13 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
There are glass electric temperature controlled or auto shutoff kettles with varying degrees of cylindricalness which would do the job.
Some would be pretty easy to remove the handle if one wished for esthetics.
posted by Mitheral at 7:59 AM on April 17, 2022
Some would be pretty easy to remove the handle if one wished for esthetics.
posted by Mitheral at 7:59 AM on April 17, 2022
I can't find the design you described but it's probably because of region, but try searching for 'half-boiled egg' maker? ('soft-boiled' isn't as widely used). The popular design available now (Lazada Malaysia link) looks like this?
It's not narrow though and more like steamer. This one doesn't have a transparent body. Oh! This one looks closest and can do double duty as a kettle.
Traditionally though, you can probably find the standard one at your Chinatown? It should look like in this video. It doesn't come with a heating element but as you see per video it's extremely foolproof once you add boiling water to it.
posted by cendawanita at 8:12 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's not narrow though and more like steamer. This one doesn't have a transparent body. Oh! This one looks closest and can do double duty as a kettle.
Traditionally though, you can probably find the standard one at your Chinatown? It should look like in this video. It doesn't come with a heating element but as you see per video it's extremely foolproof once you add boiling water to it.
posted by cendawanita at 8:12 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
I just experimented yesterday with hard cooking eggs via steam, so the technique is viable, no idea about the appliance. Perhaps steaming may broaden results?
posted by childofTethys at 10:56 AM on April 17, 2022
posted by childofTethys at 10:56 AM on April 17, 2022
An instant pot is great at making hard-boiled eggs with results and cooking times very similar to dedicated devices I've used in the past (I have most experience with Cuisinart's Egg Central). The heat is consistent vs. stove-top pressure cookers and the timer allows you to dial in exactly how done you want your egg and you can fill the pot with as many or as few eggs as you'd like. Just did a dozen for easter egg dying; 5 minutes at pressure, 5 minutes natural release. Perfect.
posted by msbrauer at 11:57 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by msbrauer at 11:57 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Ok, I went to US Amazon and the search results for soft boiled egg cooker looks promising as what I've found on my regional shopping sites. Hopefully these are what you meant.
posted by cendawanita at 3:29 PM on April 17, 2022
posted by cendawanita at 3:29 PM on April 17, 2022
Steaming is actually the “best" way to hard boil eggs. It gives the highest proportion of easy-to-peel eggs, per some unscientific set of experiments that someone did and reported online somewhere. It definitely pays off for me.
posted by SLC Mom at 10:44 AM on April 18, 2022
posted by SLC Mom at 10:44 AM on April 18, 2022
« Older How can we ensure our blind senior cat always uses... | Help me interpret this old photograph (NYC, 1910s... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 6:02 AM on April 17, 2022 [1 favorite]