Nordic Ware 64802 Microwave Egg Cooker
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Nordic Ware 64802 Microwave Egg Cooker
Customer Review: Great concept, but weakly implemented -- it does not last!!
Summary: 3 Stars
*** UPDATE March 2011 ***
This egg cooker still works, but it has developed a problem. The lid doesn't fit as well as it used to. So, the water will boil and create enough steam to raise the lid, often to the point where it simply falls off. One time I stepped out of the room and a few moments later... **BOOM!** The lid had slipped off and the microwave blew up the 4 eggs I had in there. What a mess. Now anytime I use this egg cooker, I have to watch it. I can't go through a full 6 minutes without stopping it a few times to re-seat the lid.
So, I contacted Nordic Ware and they promised to send me a replacement (this thing has a 5 year warranty!). Well, the replacement came damaged. The packing was horribly insufficient. The box had collapsed and this highlighted a problem with the product: The aluminum shelf and liner are soft and pliable. They bend easily. And once bent, it is difficult to get a snug fit between the top and bottom. Without a snug fit, the lid will lift off when the water starts boiling intensely. I tried bending the aluminum back into original shape, but I couldn't quite get there 100%. The replacement seems to work, but I'm not confident it will last.
In my response to Nordic Ware, I included a product improvement document highlighting a lot of what others have complained about with a few plausible solutions. I hope they follow them. Again, this product concept is really great. Most people have a microwave, so why not use the technology that already exists and design a simple product to work with it? The Nordic Ware Egg Boiler works well, as long as the product is new. But the metal changes shape over time and makes it difficult to fit it together properly, resulting in dangerous problems.
The thing that impresses me most about this egg boiler is that it uses steam to cook the eggs, NOT microwaves. How is this possible, you ask?
Well, the ingenious element of the design here is that the eggs are shielded from the microwaves. This product is lined with aluminum. And yes, I know what you're thinking--metal is bad for microwaves, and you'd see sparks flying. The design prevents that, by encasing the metal in thick plastic. Water is put in the reservoir at the bottom which is NOT shielded. Separating the water and the eggs is an egg tray with holes in it. The holes allow the steam to enter, but not the microwaves. The water boils, and the steam cooks the eggs. It's that simple.
Now, keep in mind that this is a cheaply priced item. As such, it does suffer from some quality issues. The main problem I had with mine was that the aluminum cone in the top can become slightly bent. As such, it makes it difficult for the container to seal properly. If you've not closed the container all the way, some microwaves enter the egg chamber and ***BOOM***, the eggs will likely explode. I was able to bend mine back into shape and it seems to work properly again. Still, for less than $10, I'll easily buy another if mine ever ends up damaged beyond repair.
One other thing to note. Not all eggs are created equal. All of them have SOME air inside, but that amount varies. Sometimes an egg will crack, and egg white will leak out. Not a lot, but some. To solve this, you do it the same way you'd prevent it with regular boiling: pierce the egg with a small needle. The tiny hole alleviates pressure but does not leak the contents. Again, you shouldn't have to do this with this egg cooker, but if you've got that simple device for making the holes, do it--can't hurt.
Lastly, the key to using this cooker is figuring out how powerful your microwave oven is, as not all of them run at the same power level. Whereas one person is fine with 6 minutes, some may require 8 minutes for proper cooking.
I find in my GE 1.3L Microwave that 6 minutes is perfect. I let the eggs cool for about 2 minutes, then take the cooker out of the oven. You MUST use oven mitts, or else you'll get burned. Next, dunk the eggs in cold water for about a minute. At that point, they are ready to peel. 6 minutes results in an egg yolk that is just shy of fully cooked. Depending on how you like your eggs, you can either cook them longer or just let them sit longer. Because the water is still quite hot, the eggs will cook rather slowly. I once let them go for 30 minutes and the yolks were slightly over cooked (you get a greenish outer layer on the yolk). I find it best cooking them for 5 minutes with hot water added (I boil a little extra water from my electric kettle when making tea, and use it for this cooker), and wait two minutes for the eggs to cool. The whites are done perfectly. Hard enough to handle but soft enough for that perfect consistency. For soft boiled, don't go any shorter than 3 minutes. I do it for about 4 minutes, let them cool for 1 minute. Lastly, the number of eggs in the container does not matter much. 4 eggs will cook about as quickly as 3 eggs. It's probably a little more noticeable between 2 to 4 eggs, but again--not significant.
NOTE: The trick is to cook the eggs to the point where the yolk stiffens a little, but is still very soft and orange looking. They simply taste better than if cooked all the way until the yolk is bright yellow. If you experiment a little, you can figure out how much time it takes for your microwave to achieve the "perfect" cooked egg.
So there you have it. I say that this the best way to make eggs. It's a little longer than directly microwaving the eggs (I've tried that 2 egg cooker, and I don't like it), but the consistency is so much better. Microwaves do strange things to the egg protein. I don't trust that. Steaming or boiling is the way to go. :-)
Customer Review: Great product with a few drawbacks
Summary: 4 Stars
Since most people will have read both the the rave reviews as well as the very negative ones, I'll stick to what I see as solutions to some of the drawbacks. Some of these solutions have been mentioned previously by other reviewers.
1. It is difficult to see the fill line when adding water. I've solved this by putting a couple of very small dots with a permanent maker just above the fill line. I can't see this extremely small amount of pigment being dangerous to one's health.
2. It is difficult and dangerous to try to remove the lid after cooking without scalding oneself. Inserting a knife to gently pry off the lid or running the whole unit under cold water are good ideas suggested in other reviews. I have solved this problem by placing a pen in the little hole at the top and using it to gently tilt the lid off. Pretty well anything that fits in the hole should give the same result.
3. Removing the cooker from the microwave could result in scalding if the unit is tipped in the process. I haven't tried it, but I think that placing a microwave-safe plate or microwave saucepan under the cooker might make it a lot safer to remove. To test to see whether a plate is microwaveable, place it and a cup of water in the microwave for a few minutes. If the plate gets warm or hot, it should not be used in the microwave.
3. It is ULTRA-IMPORTANT to make sure that the lid is properly seated all the way around and that there are absolutely no gaps. It must fit tightly or there will be problems. Exploding eggs, I believe, are due to failure to pay enough attention to this step. What happens is that the steam escapes from the gaps between top and bottom sections and instead of being steamed the eggs are being microwaved. One will recall the good old days when attempts to microwave eggs led to explosions or rubbery, foul-tasting eggs. Eggs, even when pierced to avoid explosions, cannot be cooked by microwave alone. They must be boiled or steamed.
4. The lid could be better designed to make for easier removal. Nordicware could add handles to the lid, and also a larger base. However, this would spoil the cute design, which is probably why they haven't done it.
5. Some people have suggested that the lid be threaded. I believe that this would be dangerous to do. The present lid acts as a safety valve in case the steam pressure inside gets too high. If the lid were threaded, it is possible for the whole cooking "egg" to explode, with potentially disastrous results.
All in all, a very good product with a few drawbacks. However, I think that most of these drawbacks can be dealt with. I give it five stars for cooking excellence, but I'm deducting one star because of the drawbacks.
Customer Review: So great just ordered 2nd one!
Summary: 5 Stars
Received this yesterday and tried it out this morning with 4 eggs. My micro is 1200 watts and the instructions only cover 600, 800 & 1K watts. First attempt at 8 minutes (per instructions for 1K watts and hard boiled) was not enough for hard boiled and too long for soft. Yolks are not 'hard' boiled, but aren't runny either. Some sections of yolk gooey/sticky and still bright yellow while other portions of yolk are a bit more dense. After reading reviews I knew it might take a few attempts to get them right for me, but the first batch isn't so bad it can't be eaten. Whites cooked great and shells peeled like magic.
Second attempt, again 4 eggs but for 10 minutes this time. PERFECT hard boiled; easily shelled. Holy Cow, Batman! Where has this been all my life?
I love it so much after these initial attempts, I just ordered a second one. I need 7+ eggs at a time, so now that I know it works so well, I'm going to experiment with 2 units in the micro at same time and work out the timing for that also.
The unit does get HOT - make no mistake. And on occasion boiling water sizzles out of the top 'vent hole'. My lid doesn't 'snap' on as indicated in the instructions. No 'snap' to it; it just sits there, but does stay in place. If yours is that way, be very careful removing it from the micro. The lid can tip over and some boiling water may splash or roll down your fingers. I gave up with the potholders to remove it from the micro. I now use two of my larger 'rubber husbands'...you know ladies, those silicone/rubber palm-sized things that help you open tough jar lids. I have some from years back that are larger than my hand and in the shape of a gorilla - pink gorillas. One in each hand protects my hands from the heat of this unit, steadies it, and doesn't let it slip even if wet. Great for removing the lid to run eggs under cold water too.
Clean up is a snap. Even with one egg cracking while cooking, no mess. Now that I think about it, I'm going to edit my order and get some for holiday gifts for my lazy brothers!!!!!
Edit: Aug 13, 2009. OOPS! Tried putting 2 in the micro simultaneously to figure out how long it would take to hard boil 8 eggs total. Put micro on for 20 minutes and after 4 minutes, the micro blew! Well, not exactly blew UP, but stopped completely. When I tried resetting, no power. I unplugged unit from wall to check connection and the cord was HOT: the entire cord. When I touched the metal prongs I actually burned my fingers. Can't explain it, but I've never had this happen ever before with a microwave. Think I'll stick to one egg cooker at a time and just rotate them. I never did like putting metal in the micro. Maybe it just got too hot to handle.
Customer Review: Great Quick Eco-Friendly Egg Cooking
Summary: 5 Stars
I love hard boiled egg - but it's so wasteful to turn on the stove to boil a pot of water just for me. With the NordicWare egg boiler you can cook up hard boiled eggs on demand, in a low-imapact, ecologically sound manner!
First, a warning. NEVER microwave eggs in a microwave without a device like this! An egg is a completely sealed object. If you just tossed eggs into a microwave and turned it on, they would explode and make a gigantic mess. Usually the solution for this is to "poke a hole in the egg" which as you might imagine is an iffy proposition.
So how does the NordicWare Egg Boiler Work? Well, it is actually pretty cool. First, you put the eggs, 1-4 of them, onto a little internal rack which is sealed by metal. Normally you don't want to put metal into a microwave because it reflects the rays of the microwave. In this case it's a good thing. It means the eggs are NOT touched by the microwaves at all. They are shielded.
So how do they cook?
Beneath that aluminum "protective cage", you put water. So the water DOES heat up because it's not shielded. You are in essence ONLY cooking the water. The water then steams the eggs.
So on our microwave - 1300 watts - I cook 4 eggs for 6 1/2 minutes. Then I let them sit for say 15 minutes to cool off. They are perfect! Also, it takes no "stove watching". I pop the eggs into the container, pop it into the microwave, and forget about it. Eventually I come back and either toss the eggs into the fridge for later or at them.
The cooker itself pops open in to 3 parts - the egg top, egg bottom, and the "rack" and all 3 go into the dishwasher without any problem. Super easy cleanup. It's not even like they are "dirty" - they only touched water, after all. So really you could just wipe them down if you wanted to.
I haven't had any problems with egg explosions. I cook my eggs to "just about hard". So if somehow I got smaller eggs in a batch, they might cook to "medium hard" - but they wouldn't explode. I think you would normally have to be cooking your eggs to "super hard" to get an egg to explode by going slightly smaller on the egg size.
Highly recommended!
Customer Review: A little advice
Summary: 5 Stars
When I got my egg cooker, it came with no instructions. Thanks to you folks commenting at Amazon, I was able to muddle through the first time even with a few apprehensions.
You were right, the water line is difficult to see. What I did was carefully measure to the water line -- then poured the water out into a glass measuring cup. Now I always know how much water I need to add and don't have to keep struggling to read the water line. (Mine was 1.5 cups.)
I found that I did not have to use hot water. Warm tap water is fine. I also found that I could use even jumbo-sized eggs in the cooker, so I was not forced to buy smaller eggs just to accommodate the compact design.
My first experience has turned out great. I put 1 jumbo sized egg in the unit (I only had a few eggs home at the time) and put it into the microwave on HIGH for 10 mins.
Following your instructions, I used pot holders to take it out of the microwave after letting it sit for a couple of minutes to cool down before removing. Then I put the cooker into the kitchen sink and ran cold water over it. After peeling the egg, with anticipation/trepidation, I cut the egg in half, and found it was perfectly cooked.
This cooker makes it so easy cook a few hard boiled eggs as for a salad or sandwiches. I used to dislike making hard boiled eggs in a pot because I hated waiting for the water to simmer, then hoping an egg wouldn't break, as well as keep 1 eye on the clock to keep from overcooking them. (Especially for only 3 or 4 eggs) The worst was cleaning off that eggy scum that would gather inside the pot when an egg cracked. With this cooker, however, there is almost no clean-up.
For those who think the top should fit tight, ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Trapped steam will cause an explosion. It needs to fit loosely so the pressure does not build beyond a certain point. (that little hole at the top notwithstanding) Enjoy!