From Pickle Forks to the Last Dab: Kitchen Gadgets and Hot Sauces Put to the Test

Introduction

Some kitchen products are genuinely clever, some are pure novelty, and some hot sauces are simply a test of character. This roundup gathers both worlds: a set of unusual kitchen gadgets that promise to solve small daily frustrations, and a lineup of international hot sauces and spicy condiments that range from everyday-usable to genuinely extreme. Here is what each one does, who it makes sense for, and what to think about before buying.

Telescopic Pickle Fork

Anyone who loves pickles knows the small ritual of fishing around in the jar, then carefully transferring the pickle to a plate without dropping it. The Telescopic Pickle Fork aims to tidy that whole process up: lift the pickle from the jar, carry it over, and press the simple sliding mechanism so the fork retracts and drops the pickle cleanly onto the plate.

It is a single-purpose tool, and whether that single purpose justifies drawer space is a personal call. If pickles are a regular part of your kitchen life, it removes the fiddly part entirely.

Bogeyman Egg Separator

Egg whites are a staple for anyone watching their diet, and separating yolks by hand is fiddly. The Bogeyman Egg Separator turns the job into a gag: crack an egg onto the novelty face-shaped device and pour, and the white runs through while the yolk sits put, with the design doing the comedy for you.

It will not appeal to everyone’s sense of style, but as a functional separator with a sense of humour, it works, and it makes a reliably funny gift for the fitness-focused cook in your life.

Egg Cuber

Tired of round sliced eggs? The Egg Cuber turns a freshly hard-boiled, still slightly warm egg into a neat square. You unscrew the top, drop the egg in bottom-down, reinsert the plunger, screw the lid on and let it chill. When you unscrew it later, out comes a cube-shaped egg.

It is a gimmick in the best sense: cheap, simple, and genuinely effective at producing a shape that looks striking in salads and bento boxes. If presentation amuses you, this delivers.

Easy Cracker Handheld Egg Cracker Separator

Cracking and separating an egg usually occupies both hands. The Easy Cracker places the egg lengthways in the cradle, you push down on the handle, and the shell cracks cleanly while the contents are released, leaving your free hand for everything else on the counter.

For anyone who cracks a lot of eggs for baking, omelettes or breakfast prep, the one-handed operation is the real selling point, and the consistency of the crack is better than most people manage by hand on a bowl’s edge.

Rose Gold Shimmer for Prosecco

A tiny tub of edible shimmer that turns a glass of prosecco into an occasion. Half a teaspoon swirled into the drink catches the light and fills the whole glass with a glittering gold effect. It works just as well in lemonade for kids’ parties and baby showers.

Think of it as an accessory rather than an ingredient. It adds a slight sweetness and sharpness to the drink, and a single tub covers roughly ten to twelve glasses. If you entertain, it is an easy way to make a bottle feel like an event.

Himalayan Salt Block

A thick slab of dusky pink salt that chefs and food writers recommend for grilling, chilling, searing and serving. Used cold, it seasons food like sashimi directly at the table; heated, it can sear meat while imparting the salt’s minerals into the food. You can also shave or grate it as a seasoning.

There are practical cautions: the block is salty by nature, so delicate dishes can easily be over-seasoned, and thermal shock can crack the block in the oven, as one tester discovered the hard way. Treat it gently, and it is a genuinely theatrical serving surface.

ABC Sambal Extra Pedas Hot Sauce

Indonesia’s answer to everyday heat. Sambal Pedas translates simply as hot chilli, and ABC’s Extra Pedas version is the all-purpose condiment the country reaches for: heat from the chillies, tang from lime, and a savoury depth from roasted shrimp paste. Slow-roasted with palm sugar, it leans sweet, sour and fruity rather than aggressive.

That balance is its strength. The heat builds gently and arrives late rather than hitting instantly, which makes it far more usable as a table sauce than its “extra hot” label suggests. It suits glazes, ribs, rice dishes and anything that benefits from a tangy, fermented depth.

Nali Peri-Peri Sauce

Malawi’s most famous sauce, made since the 1970s from the country’s bird’s eye chillies, said to be among the hottest in Africa. The bottle carries a warning label reading “Azipesa Samalira”, which translates as “friends, take care”, and the heat sits at roughly 175,000 Scoville units.

In practice it is a grower rather than a shock: fruity and vinegary at first, then building steadily until the lips and throat feel it properly. It is a genuinely delicious peri-peri with real heat behind the flavour, best approached with respect on the first pour.

Akabanga Extra Hot Chili Oil

Rwanda’s tiny but mighty chilli oil. The ingredient list is remarkably short: around 80% scotch bonnet extract and sunflower oil, nothing else. Locals famously add only a couple of drops to a large bowl of soup, and that is genuinely the right dosage.

It delivers an oily, coating heat that lingers, with a strong garlic note alongside the burn. A bottle lasts a very long time given how little you need, which makes it one of the better value extreme-heat products around. Ideal for anyone who wants to add serious heat drop by drop without changing a dish’s texture.

Samyang Buldak Extremely Spicy Hot Chicken Flavor Sauce

From the makers of the famous Korean fire noodles, this sauce is tied to one of the internet’s best-known spicy eating challenges. The original Buldak ramen sits around 8,700 Scoville units, and this sauce version dials things up dramatically, reportedly around four times spicier than the original challenge noodles.

Despite the extremes, the flavour holds up: savoury, brothy, genuinely chicken-forward, with the chewy-noodle pairing doing a lot of work. The heat concentrates on the lips and lingers stubbornly, so have dairy nearby. Buy it if you love the Buldak noodle flavour and want the full-strength experience in a squeezable bottle.

Last Dab XXX Hot Sauce

The sauce many people know from hot sauce interview shows, in its XXX strength. It is built around Pepper X, bred by pepper grower Ed Currie and recognised as the world’s hottest pepper. This version is hotter than the one used on the original show format.

It is surprisingly fruity and mustardy on the first taste, which is exactly the trap: the burn arrives in waves and does not let go, coating the lips and building for minutes. This is a sauce for chilli-heads and challenge nights, not everyday cooking. A few drops deliver everything most people will ever want from it.

Overall Buying Advice

The gadgets here work best when matched to a real habit: buy the pickle fork if pickles are a staple, the egg cuber if presentation makes you smile, the Easy Cracker if you cook with eggs daily. The shimmer powder and salt block are about experience and theatre, so treat them as occasion purchases rather than kitchen essentials.

On the sauce side, ABC Sambal and Nali Peri-Peri are the ones with everyday table-sauce potential, Akabanga is the smart pick for controlled, drop-by-drop heat, and Samyang Buldak and the Last Dab XXX are for committed spice lovers who know exactly what they are signing up for.

Conclusion

None of these products are complicated, and that is the point. The best of them either remove a small daily annoyance or deliver a flavour experience you cannot get from the ordinary shelf. Match the purchase to the habit, respect the sauces that warn you on the label, and every one of these can earn its spot.