Gadgets: OXO Egg Separator

[Photograph: OXO]

I tend to like OXO products. They're well-designed, sturdy, innovative, and ergonomic.

But...an egg separator? The egg separator has to be the poster child for the anti-unitasker movement. It has no other purpose than separating whites and yolks. It doesn't open cans or flatten chicken breasts. It does one single thing. Yolk here, white there. That's it. Toss it in the dishwasher.

Talk about egg separators out loud, and it's pretty much guaranteed that half the crowd will talk about using the eggshells to separate eggs, and the other half will talk about scooping out the yolks with their fingers. But scattered among the eggshell people and the grab-the-yolk people, there might be two quiet ones: the person who can't separate an egg without breaking the yolk, and the one who is freaked out about touching raw eggs. Maybe there are more than a few of those folks. A lot of egg separators get sold. Someone's buying them.

This OXO egg separator ($4.99) does its job well. It sits nicely on the edge of a fat-edged bowl or a thin bowl. It's got a hard, sharp edge where you can crack the egg. And it separates the yolks from the whites.

This unitasker isn't an earthshaking, innovative device, but someone probably needs it. If you have egg-separation anxiety issues, this product is for you. Otherwise, I'm sure you've got your own favorite method already.

Disclaimer: Testing samples were provided to Serious Eats.