Clickable link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gadget

I am a gadget junkie but even I wouldn't buy this one. I would save my $19.95 plus S & H and continue to crack my own eggs! By the way, I never have to pick out egg shell when I crack an egg. Just lucky? LOL

Al

I'm not a gadget junkie and I always just shake my head at those advertisements, like the one that makes it look like it's SOOOOOOO hard to peel a potato.

I never have to pick eggs shells out of my food either, and I don't crack an egg all over the counter or miss the pan when I'm frying one.

I do occasionally drop one on the floor, but I don't suppose this gadget would help that...

It's silly, but Bud and Makayla would love it, I'll bet.

Annie

Don't you think that it could potentially be useful for people with limited hand function? Assuming that it doesn't take too much strength, and assuming that it actually works as well as it does in that little video, of course.

I just bought my mother a glass with a built-in battery-operated mixer so she can make fruit smoothies without having to heft the blender container, which she says is now too heavy for her. So you never know what might be a help for somebody else.

An expensive gadget for the seriously inept!!

Maureen, I thought about the limited hand function, but it looks like it takes dexterity to get the egg in and like the lever does need grip strength. I don't know for sure.

I wondered while watching the video if this was one of those products they sell at carnivals that are over priced and have a huge learning curve, but look easy when the demonstrators do it.

I find that different eggs crack differently. The brown eggs hardly ever lose their bits, and are easy to crack, but are miserable to peel off boiled eggs. The white shells are really easy to get off the boiled eggs, but are hard to crack and are always losing little chips.

I don't think it would take any less dexterity to use that thing than it would to crack an egg the regular way. It may even take more.

The video is hilarious. No, ALL of us have not ever done smoe of those things. I admit to having to pick a piece of shell out once in a blue moon, but it's rare.

In six months, you can probably pick one up at any yard sale or thrift store for $1.

I saw the commercial for this thing and shook my head too. Although I like gadgets (one friend called me gadgetman) but I like *functional* gadgets. Especially ones that serve multiple purposes, but do them well.

The EZ scrambler was the one that really made me laugh!

Re gadgets, I really like my avocado slicer and my mushroom cutter, though I'm perfectly capable of using a knife (hanging head in shame...).

Thanks Jim for the clickable link. I wish I knew how to do that!

Now I know what people are talking about when they come into the store and ask for it! I'm actually sleeping well these past few months and not awake at 2am to see the infomercials. Yep, we'll be getting this in the store soon I'm sure. sighhhh, and it will sell. People will buy anything. NancyLouise

I love gadgets but this is just stupid! ooops, DGS said we aren't suppose to say that. When I first saw it I thought of my mom who had use of only one arm-but then she wouldn't need it because I was her egg cracker. I would feel better if indeed it is helpful for anyone impaired.

I bought a similar one several years ago for VacuumFreak/Bobby as a joke.

Bet my hens organic, free-range, calcium-enhanced eggshells could break that little gadget in a heartbeat!

I love gadgets too but this one is insulting.

WHO has an egg mess like that on their stove from cracking an egg? Gimme a break!

Well, interesting read folks. Since my stroke last July guess you can just call me "seriously inept". :(

Annie, it is "SOOOOOOO hard to peel a potato"... Yes, it is. (sigh)

Shaun, I'm sorry you're "insulted" by this egg cracker. To answer your question though...I would have a mess like that if I tried to crack an egg near the stove.

/tricia (who's PT is progressing much slower than expected or hoped but still making improvements)

Tricia, the commercial I'm talking about has a young woman, clearly not physically challenged, with about 4 potatoes and a peeler. She hacks away at the potato with the peeler, leaving bits of peel, and wiping her brow. It's just dumb. And it's a commercial for those potatoes in a bag, already mashed and frozen.

Now, if you're handicapped in some way (I had a secretary once who was born with one arm and my Dad drove a huge spike through a heavy cutting board so she stuck her potato or apple on the spike and peeled away), that's one thing, but making an ordinary task like peeling a potato look like it's more work than anyone would want to do is misleading and ridiculous. Sell your product on taste or on time or on convenience, but don't overstate like these commercial are, they become a caricature of cooking tasks. They are not directed at anyone with physical disabilities, they are directed at able bodied people who ostensibly cook.

Annie

It seems to me that it takes more time, effort and skill to put the egg inside the contraption than it does to just crack the egg in the first place.

I agree with Annie. If they were marketing some of these gadgets to physically challenged people, I wouldn't have a comment. That's a completely different market. It's when they show a perfectly healthy and able person doing things which we can see are exaggerated and ridiculous that I feel that my intelligence has been insulted.

And on top of that, TWENTY bucks PLUS for a piece of plastic that probably costs them a dollar or so. No thanks!

I wonder how big a hole that scrambler makes. Think you could hard boil a scrambled egg? That would make for interesting Easter eggs! If I had seen this a few weeks ago I would have ordered it just for the heck of it.

You can absolutely hard-boil one of those scrambled eggs, FOAS. I have a different version of it that I got at least twenty years ago. Mine makes really beautiful hard-boiled eggs--they look marbleized when you peel them.

I don't feel personally insulted by the ads for the egg cracker--my intelligence has survived worse assaults than that! Just saying that it could possibly make life easier for some people with some kinds of handicap. Plus, we have no way of knowing whether that wasn't the original intention. If I were in charge of marketing some doohickey, I'd probably say we should try to sell it to as wide a market as possible, even if it were originally designed for people who had limited use of their hands.

And no, I don't own stock in the egg cracker company. I'm just trying to keep an open mind for a change. ;o)

Trust me, Maureen, if it were intended for the disabled market, it would be $120!

(I'm only half joking. The worst price gouging I've ever experienced in in the accessibility market. I had to buy a protable reader two years ago. It's a kind of magnifying device that allows me to change zoom levels and contrast. The technology isn't even as sophisticated as a good digital camera, and the battery life is dismal. If I told you how much it was, it would curl your hair.)

I remember that ad, Annie. It wasn't even funny like this one, it was just annoying.

OK, to be completely honest, if I saw the scrambler dohicky at a thrift store for a buck or two, I might buy that. I dislike the texture of egg whites almost as much as Chase hates the chuluza. :) Prescrambled boiled eggs would mean no more nasty big chunks of egg white in potato salad and smoother egg salad.

Stupid question--couldn't you just poke a hole in the egg and wiggle around a large pin or a cake tester or something?

A cake tester? OMG, I didn't know there was such a thing! Do I need one? Where can I get one? Are they expensive? Do they run on batteries?

Jim

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triciae dont jump me. Thats totally not necessary my dear woman.

Sorry about your trouble/problems. Go order the egg thing.

I always laugh when I see that commercial. I told my son that it would take as much time to dig it out of the drawer and put the egg in it as it would to just crack the egg by hand.

Oddly enough, while I was watching the news last night, they ran a promo for today's Rachael Ray Show, featuring product testing on three kitchen gadgets, one of which would be the EZ Cracker. So I programmed it to record, and I just got done watching the tests.

EZ Cracker was the first one up, and the woman testing it was shown at her home cooking eggs and being incredibly inept at cracking them by hand. She didn't say she had any disability, so I'm assuming she's just kind of generally incompetent. Or maybe only with eggs, who knows? It's entirely possible she was coached to be more incompetent than normal, since it's amazing what people will do to be on TV. Anyway, she then tried breaking an egg with the EZ Cracker, and it worked almost perfectly. A couple specks of shell (which is more than I get doing it by hand, but for her it was a massive improvement), but generally a clean break. Then she tried the egg separator attachment, and that worked without any trouble at all. Finally the hard-boiled egg test, which I was sure would fail, and it worked! Maybe she was just lucky to get an egg where the shell didn't stick to the innards, or maybe this gizmo actually helps get past that problem--again, who knows, but in spite of my passionate defense of it in those earlier posts, I was secretly pretty sure this thing wouldn't work as advertised. Yet it seemed to in this test. Go figure. Plus, it didn't appear to take a lot of hand strength to operate, although it would have been interesting to see her little daughter try using it.

They also tested a battery-operated fork that twirls itself, used for eating spaghetti. Even I will agree that this is ridiculous and useless, but the family had fun with it. And of course I want one anyway. Also a plastic bag you swing around to dry your produce. Didn't get a good review, and I can see myself breaking vases and injuring the dog while trying to use one, so no on this.

I swear that's my final word on the EZ Cracker. I won't pay twenty dollars for one, but when it makes its way to the As Seen on TV shelf at the Rite-Aid for a couple of bucks, I'm all over it.

Beanthere, I'm so glad to hear that I'm not the only one who hates the big white chunks in potato salad!

It looks like you could stick a pin (or paperclip) in the egg to break the yoke, then shake like crazy?! Now I'm on a mission.

Beth

A plastic bag you swing around for produce? As in "my grandma used an old cotton pillowcase and sent us outside to swing it"?

A self-twisting FORK?

My dad used to say that some people have more money than they have sense. I'm beginning to think he was right. Clearly there are plenty of companies willing to help them spend it.

Tricia...I didn't know you had such residual weakness from your stroke that cracking an egg was difficult. I'm so sorry, that must be so hard. you are doing so well with your typing one wouldn't know you were dealing with much disability at all.
Have you tried holding the egg in your "bad hand" and and with your "good hand" hit the egg sharply with a table knife, the egg falls into a bowl beneath and you are left holding the shell. That's a method used by rehabbers and therapists.
It's easier than trying to load an egg into that thing with fumbly fingers.
As for potatoes....learn to love the skin! LOL!
Are you still going to therapy? I have a friend who had a stroke 3 weeks ago and his left arm and leg don't work well, and he's working very hard at rehabbing. He is suffering because he can't use the computer. How long was it before you could get on line?
Linda C

Anyone remember the Bassomatic? LOL!

David

David, I remember the Bassomatic, LOL.

Jim, I have a cake tester. It's just a long piece of metal wire with a loop in one end. I don't know where the heck it came from or where I got it. What's more, I don't know where it is either, LOL, I just touch my cake in the middle and see if it pops back....

Annie

Maureen, thanks for the report!!! Good to know it actually works. Not buying it, but good to know.

Re cake testers, I love mine (just like Annie's, but I know where it is), because I used to use a bamboo skewer. The wire leaves a much smaller hole. The loop end is dipped in tool goop for an easy, cool grip. Costs pennies. Worth it, though you could make one--just wrap the end around a dowel and twist tightly, then dip and dry. I tried to find a picture on Amazon and found a whole bunch of overpriced, overimproved ones that are too thick and have fancy holder ends, that could, conceivably, come off. At least one was over $10!!! Ridiculous!

There was one expensive one that would be sort of worth it: Food safe nickel silver with fancy bead and curlique end for $7.50.

But, even though these are really cute, they're short and lumpy and I think the simple, loop ended one is more useful.

Oh. Here's one.

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Beth, I'd only try hat with Annie's eggs. LOL! I'm betting them have a shell more subtantial tan the fragile ones from the mass-poduced ones. LOL! Maybe it could be worked into an exercise routine -- a lotta salsa or quickstep before breakfast. :)

Looks like fast food is getting into the act. They now have "left handed Whoppers."

Hey, FOAS, I have that model and forgot all about it. It's a pain to fit in the drawer, though.

Thanks for putting up with my foolishness re cake testers. I was mostly kidding but actually learned a thing or two from your answers. Ten dollars! Wow! That would buy a lot of toothpicks.

Jim

LOL!! Jim, I knew you were mostly kidding, but I did think you wondered what it was. I sometimes get carried away in my explanations. I totally agree on the toothpicks. Here I was thinking that my wire with loop one was pricey at something like six bits, though it turns out that I really love it.

What I've been trying to figure out is how FOAS got a paperclip chocked into the drill motor!

"Posted by plllog -------What I've been trying to figure out is how FOAS got a paperclip chocked into the drill motor!"

Sometimes there are a few things you want to do with food, and they don't make a tool to do it, or the tool is not good enough, you just have to improvise and get the job done.

I have been doing the paper clip method to scramble the inside of an egg for a while.

I will post the tool when I have a little time.

I have a few other tools for other purposes I will post also.

dcarch

I have been doing the paper clip method to scramble the inside of an egg for a while.

Why?

As to egg gadgets, aw, that ain't nothing! Check out this tool for separating yolks and whites - it gets 5 stars from Amazon customers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Egg Separator

LoL shannon, we have that egg separator. Have had it for 5 years now. It does work well and looks gross at the same time.! Who could ask for anything more. and no, we didn't buy it. It was a gift. NancyLouise

Beanthere, I'm afraid I don't move that fast before breakfast!! In fact, I have a hard time walking right out of bed! But I'm still going to give it a try. I have an egg punch that came with a Krups egg cooker that will give me an initial hole to use.

Plllog, my SIL has a set of the fancy skewers with beads that are used as olive picks, etc for drinks, or just fancy toothpicks. They are pretty but would be easy to make.

Beth