Neat gadget. I use steam to cook eggs because there's no chance of breaking the yolk hen flipping.

I just give a flick or the wrist to do the over easy thing....almost never break a yolk...( but I will be punished with many broken yolks for mentioning that!!!)

I've never heard of using steam, but I'll definitely try this. I usually end up by breaking 1 out of the 2 eggs.

It's sort of like poaching but in shallow water....and in reality you don't have to add water, just put a lid on the pan to cook the top of the yolk.

Great looking gadget! I use flexible thin spatulas, (I have normal, big and giant), but this one would have been tempting before them. :)

Much love here for the sunny up side of live, so I use an oversized enamelled cast iron braiser lid over my little crêpe pan I use for eggs, and even with the lid tilted at the pan's handle, it does a good job of reflecting the heat back at the top of the eggs. I don't add water, but it gets plenty of condensation, so the eggs themselves must be steaming out water.

Grandma used to fry her eggs in enough hot bacon fat to just spoon the hot fat over top of the egg to cook it. They were good, but probably not all that healthy. :-)

I like mine over easy and I just flip them, and I seldom get a broken yolk. Like LindaC, I'll be punished with broken yolks now for 7 years or something, just for being complacent.

We used to use the lid to cover eggs on the grill when we owned the bar/grille, but around here that's called a basted egg, as the condensation collects on the lid and "bastes" the egg.

I have no trouble flipping grilled cheese sandwiches or pancakes either, as long as I use a spatula. I've tried to do the pan flipping thing (which Elery can do), and I've lost more pancakes/eggs/whatever to the floor, to the stovetop or to the dogs. I just can't manage to flip without a spatula.

Cathy, I think if the HG wants his eggs over easy and your gadget works for you, double bonus. The HG should have his eggs the way he likes them, and give him a big hug for me.

Annie

I think those of you with your own chickens have a better chance of flipping an unbroken yolk than those of us at the mercy of the egg producers. The older the eggs, the more easily they seem to break. I'm lucky to get farm fresh from friends and it makes such a difference in getting unbroken yolks.

My husband used to make the best fried, over easy eggs and I think his trick was to not cook them too hot, get them almost done, then flip for just a short time. He was more patient than me...I always seem to be too much in a hurry.

It's interesting to see what's difficult for one person can be easy for another and then there's something that's just the opposite. I usually use butter or bacon fat medium high heat and a teaspoon or so of water and cover it until it's just a little jiggle left in the white, then flip it to finish cooking the white and "skin" the top of the yolk. Usually they're ready by the time I grab the plate. It really only takes a few seconds. I've tired of over easy eggs and enjoy them hard but not hockey pucks. I like the nice creamy yolk when properly cooked and they're nice and hot. That is more of a challenge to me than over easy. I seldom have trouble flipping them. Lucky I guess. But I also keep it close to the pan where some lift it up way over the pan and let them drop. Well, no wonder the yolks break.

Do what you need to do and use what you need to use to get the job done easily. Congrats on finding a useful tool, and I emphasize "tool" not a "gadget"! :)

I agree it has more to do with the egg than the flipping technique. I cook over easy eggs 5-6 days a week, same griddle, same spatula...but every once in a while, what I call a weak egg, just won't flip without breaking... no loss, it then becomes an egg sandwich :)

Thanks all for your take and techniques on cooking over easy eggs...I told you I was an idiot :)

Cynic, I emphasize "tool" not a "gadget"! I called it a gadget because yeas ago the CF deemed me the Gadget Queen. I even had an online "name the gadget" contest with a winner declared.

I've never fried an egg - I generally make omelets instead, and then only on week-ends.

Are you flipping two eggs in the photo, or does the one egg have two yolks?

Lars, Double yoke. I get eggs from a local farm, they are jumbos and often all double yokes.

That is a cool gadget! Nothing like being someone's hero.

But I use Bobby Flay's hint that his mom gave him. Once it's looking somewhat set, put a lid on the pan and let it cook a minute or two more. Probably a lot like steaming them. Works every time!

I break my yolks on purpose, with the edge of one of the shells. : ) i like mine cooked medium with just a bit of dark yolk like a soft boiled. Usually i prefer a wet scramble with both yellow and white visible and cooked. DH makes it perfect, then makes himself an omelet.

I love when i find a good 'tool'. Even if it has just one use. I have a box full of useless ones in storage. One i can think of is a tiny garlic mandolin that makes perfectly thin slices for garlic chips.

I can do the wrist flip easily with the right pan. Needs a sloped edge and not the cast iron edge.

I put a ceramic drawer hardware knob on a small stainless bowl for a steamer lid. (and on some copper mesh strainer baskets that look like window screening for bug covers in the summer). ..they were cheap at a dollar type store.

Lots of lids fit my cast iron and other saute pans that came without one. But on a griddle i use the homemade one.

I have that same gadget/tool. I got it from a garage sale for a quarter. It's very flimsy. I would like the same idea in a sturdier plastic.

I never knew such a gadget existed. Congratulations on your find, Gadget Queen.

Over the years, I've learned to flip pretty much everything (including my neighbor Larry), with a quick flick of the wrist.

However, place a spatula in my hand and I Buster Keaton it, all over the kitchen.

Sol

Sleeven, I love my garlic slicer as well as the 3 other garlic tools I have :)

This is one of the 30+ gadgets/tools that I posted on the "Name the Gadget" game from many years ago.

I can imagine that hinged egg flipper getting tangled up with the jumble of stuff in my utensil drawer and not playing nicely with others in the crock of utensils on the counter.

I like a nice thin & flexible turner/ spatula for eggs and they can be a bit difficult to find. Metal ones are easier to find than plastic/ nylon you need for non-stick pans. Ekco used to make one that I like a lot for eggs so I'm constantly on the hunt for it at garage sales because some of the cooks in this house are bad about leaving it perched on the rim of a skillet. Doesn't take kindly to excess heat.

IActually have one of those things that Cathy has....but in my house it's used for latkes or a grilled sandwich.
In a long ago thread about gadgets, I posted a picture of one I picked up at a sale....no idea of it's use but I kept it in my drawer...just in case! Well I finally figured it out! Will post a picture after I have had more coffee!

What is that thing with the post it?

Looks like the shape of those Italian cookies i don't like. They look like shortbread but the are just dry sorta sweet sawdust. The handle has the pinch spring so you cut then pinch to release?

I remember that one, Cathy! Obscure, indeed! Love my garlic mandoline too. :)

Ci_lantro, is the Ekco one you're looking for here on Amazon? The one called "flexible turner" at the end looks like the one I use.

Sleevendog, Seriously you don't know what that is???

Just kidding, it's a watermelon seed remover.

Cathy, I remember that. Here we just spit them out, LOL, it's our most efficient removal method!

Annie

Thank you for looking, Plllog but it's none of those. :(

Had one like the one you like--nice flexible spatula. Victim of excessive heat--that one was my fault, IIRC.

The one I like is nylon, short, slotted, square across the end and the blade is chiseled. It's really pretty wimpy, not much use for anything except turning eggs when you're using a non-stick pan.

I don't think Ekco makes it anymore--I'm always on the lookout for them, regular retail stores, etc. and the only place I find them is at garage/ estate sales. Fortunately, when I find one, there are often multiples of it at the same sale.

Annie, Here we buy seedless, I just had to get it for the "silly" factor.