Boiling eggs are really tricky, especially if you’re cooking for a group of people who like their eggs in varying stages of “hardness”. Add to the fact that the rate at which eggs cook depend not just on the amount of time it takes to cook them, but also the temperature at which they were stored, and also the size of the eggs. With so many factors to consider, it is no wonder that sleepy cooks end up with “wrongly” cooked eggs.

The good news is that you don’t have to be a chef to be consistent in turning out perfectly boiled eggs that will suit everyone’s tastes. All you need is to get yourself a BeepEgg, and you can relax, maybe even sing with it as you make breakfast.

The BeepEgg is an egg timer that you put in the pan with your eggs as you boil them and will tell you whether the eggs are already cooked. Fish out the eggs for the people who like their soft boiled when you hear the egg sing “Killing Me Softly” and leave the rest until you hear it start to sing “I Wish I Was a Hen”, at which point you can fish out the eggs for those who like it medium. You’ll know that the remaining eggs are already hard boiled when you the classical tune from Carmina Burana coming out of the plastic egg.

How to use the BeepEgg

While it all sounds really silly, the BeepEgg works perfectly so that you don’t even have to worry about getting your eggs to room temperature before your boil them. Just make sure that you also store the BeepEgg along with the real eggs because it works by calculating the inner temperature of the eggs based on the temperature it was stored and the boiling water.

Oh, and if you’re getting irritated with all that singing, just dunk the Beep Egg in cold water.

Image via Firebox

Recipe Finder Logo

Have you ever wanted to become like one of the celebrity chefs you religiously follow on TV (and elsewhere you can find them)? I know I would give an arm and a leg to be like Nigella Lawson – for more reasons than her cooking, obviously. I’d also sell my most precious gadget to be like Jamie Oliver. Or, rather, be with Jamie Oliver – but that’s a totally different story.

All kidding aside, I think that every home cook has this inner desire to meet the standards of their celebrity chef of choice. That is perhaps one of the biggest reasons that this obsession about celebrity chefs (and everything associated with them) has taken a stronghold in society. While not all of us may be as talented as Gordon Ramsey, I do believe that a little ingenuity and sense of adventure can take our cooking to a whole new level. All that we need is a push and some help.

That’s where this new recipe search engine can come in very handy. It’s called Recipe Finder, and it does what the name says – finds recipes for you. Recipe Finder is a search engine that was built with the average user in mind. That means that practically anyone can use it to find recipes that can be made in any kitchen. One of the great things about Recipe Finder is its simplicity. Here’s a peek at what awaits you.

Recipe Finder Home Page

Now for a very important question: Can Recipe Finder help you cook the dishes your celebrity chef of choice makes on TV? Take a look at this.

Jamie Oliver Recipes

Those results are displayed using the text option, but there is another option, which will tempt even the most disciplined of people.

Paula Deen Search - Images

Recipe Finder also allows you to narrow down your searches using advanced parameters. You can specify ingredients to include or exclude, the number of servings, the amount of calories, and the cook time. All you need to do is click on the Advanced Search link, which can be found below the search bar, at the right.

Advanced Search

Before you panic, think about this. Maybe you’ve got beef. You have about 3 hours to prepare. Go to Recipe Finder and do this search.

Advanced Search for Beef Recipes

You may not have your own cooking show, but you can always pretend to be on air while preparing those delectable dishes in your kitchen! Doesn’t the thought just excite you?

Anyhow, it seems that celebrity chefs are taking the battle to the mobile scene. In the past year, various chefs have been releasing their own iPhone apps in an effort to stay current. Jamie Oliver (of course he’s going to be mentioned) released his cookery app late last year and gained the distinction of being the top-grossing app in the UK within days of the release! Up till now, it has remained in the top 5.

Recently, Nigella Lawson has decided to join the Apple fray. She released her own app last week, dubbed Quick Collection. Within hours, the app became the top selling lifestyle app in the UK. Now how impressive is that?

As for what’s going on in that pretty head of hers, this is what she had to say:

I am iPhone-obsessed and app-addicted anyway, so feel particularly excited about my own ‘Nigellapp’.

This really feels like an application that is comfortable to use, either to inspire after a long day, or give general and specific cooking tips. I am very proud of this gorgeous little greed-gadget.

Nigellapp – now that’s funny! If you’re okay with spending ₤4.99 for 70 recipes and 40 minutes of video, you should download this app now.

Dubbed Giada De Laurentiis for Target, the cookware and food products selection is touted to be exclusive and yet affordable. According to Kathy Tesija, executive vice president of Target’s merchandising, their customers “want kitchen gear that makes their daily cooking easier and more enjoyable, and Giada’s collection delivers.” She also says that they “combined design expertise with Giada’s culinary background to create a product collection that pairs utility with great design and affordability.”

What exactly are they selling? Pots and pans, ceramic containers for baking, pasta sauces, flavored coffee, and other kitchen tools. Also available are different varieties of pasta and dressings. One set that I find particularly interesting is the Tri Ply Clad cookset. The inclusions in the set:

• 2 saute pans, one is 8 inches and the other is 9.5 inches; both are open
• 3 sauce pans: 1 quart, 2 quarts, and 3 quarts; all have lids
• 1 Dutch oven with lid: 5 quarts

For $199.99, I think that it’s a pretty good deal.

The idea behind the line is to impart Giada’s cooking expertise and family traditions while at the same time to provide customers with Target quality.

Would you buy these products?

Which?, a consumer magazine, recently conducted a test on various kitchen tools and gadgets that celebrity chefs endorse. And what did they find out? Many of these gadgets do not measure up to the reputation of their celebrity chef endorsers!

The Herald ran a story on this and named some of the high profile chefs and their kitchen appliances and tools. While many of them did not really exceed the performance of non-celebrity chef gadgets, not all of them were “fails.” In fact, there was only one that was marked as a “Don’t Buy” – Rosemary Conley’s EnerGi HG6 Health Grill. This scored a mere 34 out of 100. The reason for this pitiful mark? The grill heated slowly, produced “awful vegetables and pallid chicken” and was difficult to set up and clean.

Other celebrity chefs whose products were scrutinized include:

-Worrall Thompson, said to be the most licensed celebrity chef in Europe, with sales of £60m in 2008 from products ranging from barbeque cleaners to cookers. Note: the judges said that his products were more of a hit and miss thing.

- James Martin, host of BBC1′s Saturday Kitchen, were awarded the highest ratings. His hand-mixer and mini-chopper (68% and 67%) triumphed over those of his rivals, but neither rated in the Best Buy category.

So should you buy celebrity chef-endorsed products? Up to you!

Ming Tsai teaches you everything from how to fillet a salmon to opening a bottle of wine in his free podcasts. While many of the tips are geared towards beginners, even the experienced kitchen diva will enjoy the show. Why? Because… he’s kinda cute.

Outside her evident signature trait of making extra ordinary cake recipes, she has also written over 40 cook books including The Aga Book. Her approach towards cooking is branded as family style emphasizing on healthy recipes that focus on fresh ingredients rather than cholesterol animal fats, something that most people of today are quite particular about. With her exposure on various TV shows, Chef Berry has gained headway and prestige, all through her continuous efforts through tri-media, including magazines that are bought worldwide.

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