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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Old-Fashioned Amish Made Egg Beater

I recently purchased an old-fashioned egg beater. Called the Country Beater, it's made by King's Manufacturing in Leola, PA by an Amish manufacturer. The Amish use many hand-operated kitchen tools and I figured they would turn out a great product. I wasn't disappointed.

The Country Beater has stainless steel beaters and die cast gears and has a one-year warranty. If you know anything about antique egg beaters, you'll be pleased to know that it's built on the design of the old Dazee egg beaters. This is a workhorse!



I wanted to put it through its paces, so I promptly started beating things. I beat eggs and whipping cream and they both worked up incredibly easily. No surprise there.

The whipped cream took about three times longer than if I used electric hand beaters, but it was easy work and I probably could have gotten the cream whipped sooner if I had turned the beater handle faster. But I was in no hurry and took my time so I could watch the beating action. It was rather mesmerizing.




Next I decided to whip up a batch of buttermilk pancakes and they were easy-peasy as well:

Flush with easy success I decided to make mashed potatoes and use the egg beater. Ha! I did manage to mash the potatoes but what price glory! I first had to sort of smash the potatoes so they would go through the beaters. This, in my mind at least, somewhat negated the need for the beaters in the first place. I think I would have been better off using my old-fashioned potato rice/masher (which I love), and I plan on doing that in the future.

But all in all, I love my new egg beater. It's very well made and sturdy and I love that it's stainless steel and not aluminum. The beater portion is deep so you can process a large amount of food at one time, and the gear works are smooth. Although it's dishwasher safe, I've washed mine by hand and it's no problem at all to get the blades totally clean.

Would I recommend one? Yes--without hesitation I'd recommend the Country Beater. However, the price is steep so you'd best really want one before you plunk down the money. At $69.95 it's not something you'd purchase on a whim.

There are cheap egg beaters on the market and they will probably do just fine if you only plan to whip up a few scrambled eggs every once in a while. But if you want a serious manual egg beater, go with the Country Beater. You won't be sorry.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go whip up a cake.

Blessings!
Georgia

UPDATE: Here's a photo that better shows the heavy0duty metal gears. This egg beater has held up so well!

8 comments:

  1. Hello, I have been looking for a replacement egg beater for several years. My old one finally wore out after decades of service. All the ones I have seen are annoyingly small and have plastic gears that wear out quickly. (I finally broke down and got one but what a waste.) If I understand what you are saying, this one has metal gears. Is that right? And I see that you posted this in 2014. Are you still pleased?

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    1. Hi, Laura-
      I have never regretted buying this egg beater and I use it all the time. The only downside is that it's expensive, but I still think it was worth the price because I tend to use non-electric household tools and this fits the bill beautifully. It is incredibly sturdily built. The gears are metal and heavy duty. As soon as I post this reply, I'll add an updated photo of the egg beater to this post (I can't post a photo to a comment, unfortunately), so if you wait a few minutes and then look, hopefully the photo will give you a clear view of the gears. I bought mine from Cottage Craftworks. Paul, the owner, has many useful products for sale and they are often a better deal than can be found at other sites. (For instance, I saved a surprising lot of money when I bought my Little Dutch Maid mixer recently.) So give me a minute and then take a look-see!

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    2. Thank you so much for your help, Georgia. I am really looking forward to having a good egg beater again.

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    3. PS What about the part you can't see in the picture? I don't know the proper name for it but it would also have teeth and the gears turn it and the part turns the beaters. You know what I mean? At the top of the beaters. I am sorry to be asking so much of your time but that is the bit that they make out of plastic in many models and since it gets lots of use, it wears down very quickly.

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    4. In the picture I posted yesterday, that large looking round circle is part of the gear workings. It's metal. Inside that little cone-shaped part are two small metal gears that grab each side of the big gears and turn the beater when you turn the handle. The only "plastic" part is the grip on the handle, but it doesn't feel like plastic to me as much as it feels like melamine or something along those lines. I will say this: The egg beater, in my opinion, will outlast me! I researched and looked long and hard before deciding to buy this, and I haven't been disappointed. Plus, the beaters themselves are much longer/larger than all the others I checked out, so I can do large batches of batter, etc. I use these beaters a lot for scrambling lots of eggs, making pancake batter, and sweetened whipped cream (enough for two pies easily, and we use a lot of whipped cream on our pies in this family!). I hope I answered your question?

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    5. yes! Thank you so much for you time and effort. I am excited about this!

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    6. Laura, let me know if you end up purchasing it and how you like it. I'm excited for you because I think you won't be disappointed!

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  2. Laura, I got the photo posted. It's at the end of the blog post.

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