Dumb Product Concept: The Inside-the-Shell Egg Scrambler

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Ivan Seeking
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Dedicated to products that work, but are worthless, wasteful, or silly.

The inside-the-shell egg scrambler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chEPougF_nQ
 

Discussion

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I'd buy it.
 


Pengwuino said:
I'd buy it.

Why? Does it hurt your little flippers to use a whisk?
 


Ivan Seeking said:
Why? Does it hurt your little flippers to use a whisk?

I'm a messy cook.
 


egg_04.jpg


Can't help but think of this.
 


Ivan Seeking said:
Dedicated to products that work, but are worthless, wasteful, or silly.

The inside-the-shell egg scrambler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chEPougF_nQ
Pretty stupid idea unless you like your eggs heavy and rubbery. If you want nice fluffy scrambled eggs you have to add water or maybe milk, and whisk the mix to entrain lots of air into it. This gizmo might seem to be a wonderful idea to people who have no idea how to cook, though. They probably sold a bunch of 'em. Ron Popeil owes his success to the gullibility of fools.
 


turbo-1 said:
Pretty stupid idea unless you like your eggs heavy and rubbery. If you want nice fluffy scrambled eggs you have to add water or maybe milk, and whisk the mix to entrain lots of air into it.

Uh. I just made scrambled eggs a few hours ago. Take 3 eggs, put them in a large glass, mix them together with a fork. Heat up the plate and put on a small wok pan (works best, in my opinion), add a small amount of butter, when it's melted, pour in the egg mix. Swirl them constantly, taking them off and on the pan if neccesary, and when they have the right consistency, stop. Result: Perfect scrambled eggs.

I've never heard of having to whisk air into them. Must be some FOREIGN method.
 


I agree with Turbo and so do top-tier chefs. About twelve years ago, Tsu and I attended a brunch at a high-end hotel, in Portland. The scrambled eggs were so good that I made a point to hunt down a chef and ask how they were made. Based on what he said, I needed to add about three times as much milk as my mother had taught me. Sure enough, that was the trick.

Part of my objection to a product like this is the waste. It is convenience taken to the point of aburdity. I actually find products like this to be offensive.

It takes energy to manufacture and distribute any product. In a year, when you throw it away, it will go to a landfill and probably last for decades, if not much longer. Any convenience found here is trivial. Products like this are plague on our energy-hungry, oil-powered society.
 
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TubbaBlubba said:
I've never heard of having to whisk air into them. Must be some FOREIGN method.
Try it. You'll never go back. If you want to make a really fluffy base for an omelet, you need to use a liquid lighter than egg, and entrain the air.
 


turbo-1 said:
Try it. You'll never go back. If you want to make a really fluffy base for an omelet, you need to use a liquid lighter than egg, and entrain the air.

Omelet? Why would I want to make an omelet when I'm making scrambled eggs? The point of scrambled eggs are to NOT make an omelet.

Ivan: I kind of agree. Plus, when I want eggs, I want protein, seems a bit silly to pour in milk, which is pretty much liquid carbohydrates. But I'll try it som time. My mother taught me to use nothing but eggs and butter and rejected the notion of adding milk.
 


TubbaBlubba said:
Omelet? Why would I want to make an omelet when I'm making scrambled eggs? The point of scrambled eggs are to NOT make an omelet.
The point I was making is that when you are making a nice fluffy omelet, you can't keep disturbing the eggs. If you want perfect scrambled eggs, they don't need to be disturbed either. That just knocks down the entrained air and densifies the eggs while they are cooking. I like my scrambled eggs nice and light, and you have to treat them gently to get them that way.
 
Seems like two different dishes to me. But I'll give it a shot some time.
Ivan Seeking said:
Part of my objection to a product like this is the waste. It is convenience taken to the point of aburdity. I actually find products like this to be offensive.

It takes energy to manufacture and distribute any product. In a year, when you throw it away, it will go to a landfill and probably last for decades, if not much longer. Any convenience found here is trivial. Products like this are plague on our energy-hungry, oil-powered society.

Well, they're certainly better than the products that DON'T work at all. And you can always make a tangent to products that don't have a real function, such as collectible figures or the like.

...I should totally start collecting Home Shopping Network products.
 
Both turbo and Ivan are correct: Lots of milk, and you can't disturb the eggs! The other trick is to prepare your ingedients well in advance and allow them to warm to room temperature before starting the omelette.

Mom (little old lady type who's been to some of the finest restaurants in the world) says I make better omelettes than any she's tasted elsewhere. :) Of course she may just be playing nice because she's my mother...
 
Anyone seen Dragons Den on BBC 1 (UK)?

Most of the stuff that shows up on there could easily fit this thread. You may be able to catch it on BBC iPlayer if you're interested.
 
Dr Lots-o'watts said:
This one actually showed up on the Dragon's Den, and it's available in local stores.
http://www.bananaguard.com/

My mother brought me one of those last year when she came to visit me. I laughed so hard that it hurt. She was serious about it, though, telling me that I could "take my banana to work for lunch safely". Assuming I bring bananas with me in the first place, and assuming that I drop-kick the piece of fruit all the way to the office.

Because, I mean, honest to Pete. Bananas come with their own packaging built right on. What a terrible waste of plastic and resources for such a stupid and specific purpose. The thing got passed along from friend-to-friend until it found a home with someone who thought it was entirely dumb enough to actually use.
 
GeorginaS said:
My mother brought me one of those last year when she came to visit me. I laughed so hard that it hurt. She was serious about it, though, telling me that I could "take my banana to work for lunch safely". Assuming I bring bananas with me in the first place, and assuming that I drop-kick the piece of fruit all the way to the office.

Because, I mean, honest to Pete. Bananas come with their own packaging built right on. What a terrible waste of plastic and resources for such a stupid and specific purpose. The thing got passed along from friend-to-friend until it found a home with someone who thought it was entirely dumb enough to actually use.

Well, except for those of us that commute on motorcycles and carry our stuff in courier bags. My bananas regularly get bruised -- guess I should try to find me a bananaguard!
 
berkeman said:
Well, except for those of us that commute on motorcycles and carry our stuff in courier bags. My bananas regularly get bruised -- guess I should try to find me a bananaguard!
That's a risk element for biking. Bruised bananas, that is. Ouch.
 
GeorginaS said:
The thing got passed along from friend-to-friend until it found a home with someone who thought it was entirely dumb enough to actually use.

A true story, from a few years back.

Somebody came to work by car, bringing a bunch of bananas to snack on. They got out of the car and put the bananas on the roof for some reason, then walked into the office without them. At this point they realized they had no bananas, and went back to the car park, where there were also no bananas.

So they came back inside and fired off an email asking if anybody has any information on banana rustlers working in the area. Except they didn't just email their local work group, or even the whole of their office block. They sent about 80,000 copies to every company employee world wide :smile:

The didn't enjoy reading some of the 79,999 replies though. IT department didn't enjoy cleaning up the mess either.
 
berkeman said:
Well, except for those of us that commute on motorcycles and carry our stuff in courier bags. My bananas regularly get bruised -- guess I should try to find me a bananaguard!

Fair enough, berkeman. But I'm pretty sure that my mother is aware that I don't ride a motorcycle to work carrying my belongings in a courier bag.

I'm still trying to feature that requiring a sole-purpose yellow hard plastic snap-together container for safe single banana transportation.

Hee!
 
:bugeye:

I reckon one might be asked to explain oneself after pulling out a "banana guard" at work if one's boss didn't know what they were.
 
Dembadon said:
:bugeye:

I reckon one might be asked to explain oneself after pulling out a "banana guard" at work if one's boss didn't know what they were.

There's that too, Dembadon, the sheer embarrassment of whipping that thing out in the lunchroom. I'd tolerate all sorts of banana bruises in the alternative.
 


Ivan Seeking said:
I agree with Turbo and so do top-tier chefs. About twelve years ago, Tsu and I attended a brunch at a high-end hotel, in Portland. The scrambled eggs were so good that I made a point to hunt down a chef and ask how they were made. Based on what he said, I needed to add about three times as much milk as my mother had taught me. Sure enough, that was the trick.

Part of my objection to a product like this is the waste. It is convenience taken to the point of aburdity. I actually find products like this to be offensive.

It takes energy to manufacture and distribute any product. In a year, when you throw it away, it will go to a landfill and probably last for decades, if not much longer. Any convenience found here is trivial. Products like this are plague on our energy-hungry, oil-powered society.

1 - It strikes me as novel. Quirky, sure, but not harmful. It's not like it's claiming to cure cancer.
2 - It's electrically powered, electricity you can get from numerous non-polluting sources.
 


s09 said:
1 - It strikes me as novel. Quirky, sure, but not harmful. It's not like it's claiming to cure cancer.
2 - It's electrically powered, electricity you can get from numerous non-polluting sources.

It's made from plastic, which comes from oil. When it goes into landfill, it's pollution = harmful.

Nobodies talking about the electric for its use - although it does increase demand on the power plants. Remember, the limited eco-supplies and as such only do so much. Everything else comes from the power plants. There's not enough green supply now to cover what we use which means anything else, such as this product, increase demand on the power stations not the green sources.

It takes energy to manufacture, run and dispose of this device. It has to come from somewhere. The question is, is the energy to do those three justified by what it does? In other words, does it save you that much time and energy whilst doing its job to justify itself?
 


jarednjames said:
It's made from plastic, which comes from oil. When it goes into landfill, it's pollution = harmful.

Nobodies talking about the electric for its use - although it does increase demand on the power plants. Remember, the limited eco-supplies and as such only do so much. Everything else comes from the power plants. There's not enough green supply now to cover what we use which means anything else, such as this product, increase demand on the power stations not the green sources.

Make it out another material.

I'm just surprised how much dislike this little gadget acquired. It's something that I'd give as a present to one of my geeky friends.
 


s09 said:
Make it out another material.

So simple, but again, does all of the stuff I mentioned above justify the product?
I'm just surprised how much dislike this little gadget acquired. It's something that I'd give as a present to one of my geeky friends.

A quirky present, maybe. Certainly doesn't make it a good product.

You have to look at all the factors before you proclaim something good / bad. Unfortunately, this thing has a lot of 'bad' and little 'good'.
 


turbo-1 said:
Try it. You'll never go back. If you want to make a really fluffy base for an omelet, you need to use a liquid lighter than egg, and entrain the air.

Not if we use a blowing agent. You could use one of the freons and make your bubbles as you cook your eggs.

Oh wait! Here's the next Ronco product... Vacuum cooked eggs! This vacuum cooker lowers the boiling point of the water in the eggs, blasting it into steam just as they cook. Result? The eggs have their own blowing agent and you get light fluffy eggs.

Three easy payments of $29.95 plus S&H. Void where prohibited by law.
 
Another dumb food product. It's too late to buy your valentine one of these, but I only found out about them today.

http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?NewsID=1469&PageID=424

£1.00 ($1.60) for a mis-shapen piece of something that is 98% water anyway does not seem like value for money.
 
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AlephZero said:
Another dumb food product. It's too late to buy your valentine one of these, but I only found out about them today.

http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/index.asp?NewsID=1469&PageID=424

£1.00 ($1.60) for a mis-shapen piece of something that is 98% water anyway does not seem like value for money.
I like them. :redface: I'd buy heart shaped cucumbers. That's close to the price for winter cucumbers here.
 
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