Joie Big Boiley Review: Metal in the Microwave
Eggs in the microwave. Who’d have thunk it? Well, apparently many people because there are a ton of gadgets out there to cook your eggs in the microwave. Today, we review the Joie Big Boiley
The Premise of the Joie Big Boiley
Boil up to four eggs without ever dirtying a pan. Just put some water in the bottom, place your eggs in the divots, screw on the top, and put the whole thing in the microwave. Sounds simple enough.
The Instructions
The instructions for using the Joie Big Boiley are actually in two parts. The timing for how long to cook the eggs is on the outside of the packaging. Four minutes for soft boiled, 7 minutes for medium boiled, 10 minutes for hard boiled.
The step-by-step instructions are printed on the inside of the product wrapper.
- Remove the metal liner and add water to the fill line.
- Replace the metal liner. IMPORTANT! You must pierce the yolk of the egg before microwaving. Place piercer on a flat surface and hold. Push the large end of the egg down on the piercing pin deep enough to puncture the yolk.
- Place the egg in Big Boiley pierced end up. Screw the top section securely on to the base.
This made us a bit nervous for the safety of our microwave. The inside of this thing is definitely metal and we’ve had prior experiences with accidentally leaving metal objects in the microwave (sorry, Dad!). For the sake of science and reviews, we pressed on anyway.
The Process
We used four large, store-bought eggs for the test. We pierced each one using the provided piercing pin (see lower right of the photo) as far as it could go. Piercing the eggs was not as difficult as we had feared. It did take a little bit of shimmying of the egg down on to the pin. The metal insert lifts out easily and the fill line is obvious. With our pierced eggs ready to go, we simply put them in pointy end down – one in each spot in the liner – then screwed the top back on.
The instructions state that the provided times are for 1000 watt microwaves with extra large eggs. Our microwave is, conveniently, 1000 watts. Good thing too as there is a caution printed in tiny font about not using anything stronger.
Given the difference in egg size, we opted to try 9 minutes for our eggs to reach a hard boil. There was absolutely no indication as to the power to use so we presumed (hopefully correctly) that it should be on high.
The Criteria
For this test, we were going for a full hard boil. That means a firm, consistently-textured yolk. Given that we are using store-bought eggs, the yolk will likely be light yellow in color. There should be no green ring between the yolk and the white.
The Results
They were not kidding – this thing heats up. We were careful to use oven mitts and avoid any residual steam coming out. The eggs were also quite hot and most had cracks from expansion during the cooking process.
We ran each egg under cold water to make it cool enough to handle and peel. The shells came off very easily and the white was left impressively clean and intact.
The big test of the Joie Big Boiley is in the doneness. Admittedly, this seemed more of an art than a science if your microwave or eggs don’t conform to their written specifications.
The first egg looked good. Solid, light yellow yolk. However, there was a small dot in the very center. At first, it appeared to be a bit of uncooked yolk. Then, upon further inspection, we saw that it may be a drop of egg white that seeped in via the piercing path. The white of the egg was firm and there was no green ring. The yolk was quite dry, indicating a touch too done.
The second egg looked like it might have a touch of the green ring of death. Just a hint. The yolk was light yellow throughout and also quite dry. Maybe 15-30 seconds less next time.
The Verdict
| Ease of Use: |  |
| Necessity: | |
| Results: | |
| Overall: | |
For ease of use, we give the Joie Big Boiley four out of five eggs. This was a very simple procedure when it comes right down to it. The real trick here is in the timing. There ought to be a calculator for figuring out how the wattage and egg size interrelate to get the right amount of cooking. Sure, with time and eggsperimentation you could find just the right combination – but who has time for that. The device cleaned up easily, especially since none of the eggs exploded in it thanks to the piercing pin.
Most of the need for a microwave egg cooker stems from either lack of time or lack of access to a cooktop. Since these are real needs, the Joie Big Boiley gets four out of five eggs for necessity.
On the results side, our eggs were decent but lackluster. The imprecise instructions for variations in egg size meant we had to take a guess on the cooking time and that lead to overdone eggs our first time out. We will continue to eggsperiment and report our results. Maybe we will build our own egg microwaving conversion chart.
Overall, that gives the Joie Big Boiley
If you’ve tried the Joie Big Boiley or another product like it, please comment below. We’d love to hear about your eggsperience.
Looking for more egg-related products? Check out our other reviews for eggcellent products.
I’ve used this almost every day for 4 years to make soft boiled eggs. I like the white cooked, but the yolk soft. Timing is everything and once you get it figured out for your microwave it’s very comsistent. Just keep all the variables the same each time you ise it (use same temperature water each time, let it stand for same amount of time, rinse with cold,water the same way each time, etc). Change one variable and the result will be a little different.
Thank you!!1