In Germany, I’ve learned, preparing and eating a hard-boiled egg are acts undertaken with tremendous seriousness.  There are lots of special devices (cups, spoons, timers, cutters) to help.  My favorite is this egg-shaped, egg-sized musical timer that one stores inside the fridge with one’s eggs and boils in the water with them.  The timer comes in different colors, including gold, and with different musical programs, including classical, disco and rock.

It’s striking to think of the engineering that went into this little gadget.  It first beeps to indicate that the water is boiling, and then plays three different songs to indicate when the egg should be removed if it is to be runny, soft, or firm.  (There’s a rather humorless video demonstration here.)  I witnessed one family trying their musical egg timer for the first time, and it stirred up a bit of anxiety.  Was that the first beep just now, or the second?  Was is too great a risk to leave the eggs in the water until the end of the last song?  Why was someone leaving the kitchen now, when the egg might sing at any moment?  This instrument turns the act of boiling an egg into high drama.