The egg boiler is a perfect appliance for egg lovers
What you need to know:
- An egg boiler is a must-have appliance for every egg lover. Not only does this nifty appliance make the perfect eggs but it also preserves their nutritional value.
If you have ever overcooked or undercooked eggs, you understand the embarrassment and confusion it causes. Ideally, boiling an egg should be the simplest thing to do; just put them in water, put them on the fire and minutes later get perfectly boiled eggs.
But this is mostly easier said than done. That is why you now have a machine to help you boil your eggs the way you like them. Depending on what kind of eggs you are making, be it poached, boiled , scrambled eggs or even omelet, this appliance will make your life much easier, especially when you do not want to leave things to speculation.
The egg boiler is less messy, saves time as on average, it takes about five to 12 minutes for the eggs to be ready.
Most of the egg boilers come with a one-touch option, thus easy to manage. One can also choose how hard or soft they want their egg since they have control options on the machine. They also automatically turn off when the eggs are done cooking also the eggs do not crack when inside.
Because you will find plenty of egg boilers on the market, you may need to know a thing or two about them, or what features you may need to get exactly what you need out of one.
Type of energy source
There are two types of egg boilers; those that use gas and the ones that use electricity.
“They both use the same principle. The energy source is turned into heat to boil the water, and the water brings the steam which boils the eggs. The steam rises from beneath the eggs, surrounds the eggs and boils them at a required temperature,” Davidson Bagambagye, the operations manager at @2fumbe, says.
The electric boilers have an alarm feature which lets you know that the eggs are ready, helping you make great use of the time you would have spent waiting for the minutes to get finished.
On top of that, it can even turn itself off when time elapses. The gas boiler on the other hand has to be timed by the cook since it may not have those sophisticated features.
Number of eggs boiled in a single batch
“The gas boilers are mainly for people who boil more than 100 eggs a day. This is because in the long run, it takes much electricity unlike the home usage when one boils once a day,” he says.
Depending on the number of people you are catering for in the house, you can choose an egg boiler depending on how many eggs they can hold in one batch.
Bagambagye says while you can boil as few eggs as you want, there will always be a limit at how many more eggs you can boil once. Some egg boilers may offer a capacity of four eggs and others may reach up to 14 eggs in a single batch.
This does not mean that you have to boil the five eggs though, if the capacity of the boiler is five.
Leaving empty spots to boil the number of eggs you want is okay, and does not affect the boiler in any way.
How long each batch takes to boil
Be it gas or electric, different boilers may take different time frames to boil the eggs. It is important that you ask your supplier how long the machine you want to buy takes to boil the eggs. Depending on your schedule, you will identify if the time it takes matters or not.
Budget
We all want good and authentic things, especially when it comes to kitchen appliances. The price, however, will always come into play when choosing something, including egg boilers.
The features the machine has will also come into play when determining the price, not forgetting the brands. While buying from a well-known brand is safe, some new brands offer high-quality products at a lower price, making life easier for their customers.
Features
Most domestic use egg boilers such as the Kent egg boiler can cook up to six eggs. They come with a needle pin that you use to prick a tiny hole in each egg before adding to the egg cooker and a measuring cup for adding the required amount of water to the egg cooker.
The measuring cup has three different fill lines on it; one for soft boiled eggs, one for medium boiled eggs and the third is for hard boiled eggs so you just choose what you want, add the water and turn the egg cooker on.
It then cooks the eggs and switches itself off when all the water has evaporated leaving you with perfectly cooked eggs.
Boiling an egg usually takes 10 to 15 minutes and requires constant checking to avoid cracking.
Cost
The Kent egg boiler cooks a perfectly boiled egg within five minutes. The egg boilers come with a user guide that makes using the boiler simple for everyone. The user manual comes explains how much water is required to cook eggs.
The automated turn-off option is beneficial because it turns the boiler off when the eggs are done cooking. Also, it is designed with stainless steel heating plate that prevents eggs from overheating.
A Kent egg boiler costs Shs45,000 to Shs65,000 on Amazon. Downtown egg boilers cost from Shs 40,000 to Shs100,00.