Cracking an Egg One-Handed

Just Because

Whenever you watch one of those cooking shows, these tattooed, 20-something “chefs” try to look cool by cracking eggs one-handed. If you’ve never tried it, you think, maybe, “wow, that looks cool! I wish I could look cool like that.”

Or not. Who really cares? Well, if that’s how you feel, skip this article. But if, after watching thousands of those shows, you thought, “OK, I want to do that. Just because it’ll feel cool, and hip, and you know, cheaper and less felonious-looking than getting permanent markings on my body.”

You can find scores of videos on YouTube on this topic. Like this:

Or this.

Really, you can think too hard about this topic. Like this guy:

Or this tatted-up loser.

Do I despise tattoos? What gave it away?

The Secret

This isn’t like a damn golf grip, folks. You don’t need a pro to show you where to place your fingers. You also don’t have to crack it on a flat surface. Doing it on the edge of the bowl is fine, as long as you don’t crack it too hard or too softly. That’s right; there is some feel that you need. You want the crack only on the bottom, not all over the shell.

Look at this screenshot from the first video:

She’s separating the two halves from the bottom. That’s the secret. There are multiple ways to accomplish this and those videos show you every possible way. You can treat it like a golf grip, something that’s easy to get wrong and suitable only for people with sleeve tattoos.

However, I find this clamshell loader to be easy to visualize — easier than remembering what fingers go where.

This image in particular. Make a claw with your hand like this

put a good but not gigantic crack in the bottom, and then open up the shell, like this:

That’s it. If you want to impress your kitchen guests, just think clamshell loader.