Slicing a hard-boiled egg with a knife is one of those jobs that sounds easy until you do it. The yolk smears across the blade, the white splits, and the slices come out in different thicknesses. Fine for a quick sandwich, a bit sad for a salad you’re trying to make look decent.
An egg slicer fixes that in about a second. You sit the peeled egg in the cradle, bring the hinged top down, and a row of thin wires cuts straight through. The Westmark one is the version I’d point people to. The wires are stainless steel, and the base and handle are cast aluminium, so it feels solid rather than like something that’ll snap the first time an egg is slightly stubborn.
Mushrooms, strawberries and kiwis go through it too, and that’s what makes it earn its drawer space. Strawberries for a trifle or a pavlova come out evenly sliced with no effort, and a pile of mushrooms for a quick omelette takes seconds instead of a chopping board and a minute of fiddling.
Two small tips. Cool boiled eggs completely before slicing, because a warm yolk is soft and crumbles on the wires. And rinse it straight after use, since dried egg is annoying to shift. It’s dishwasher safe, so if you forget, that’s covered.
Egg mayo, Cobb salads, a strawberry tart. If any of those turn up in your kitchen regularly, this beats a knife every time.
Westmark Germany Multipurpose Stainless Steel Wire Egg Slicer (Amazon)
