Page 9 | The great Eggsperiment taking place on 19th July/ Aka EGG WARS

Enigma2000 · 2022-07-18T15:51:52+00:00

Following on from my patio egg experiment. I have set up this thread ready for us all to take part in on 19th July. Pick your surface and splat your egg between 10am - 6pm. Let's do our egg science and save humanity. I will be setting up my egg out front (as it is hotter than my back garden) on foil tomorrow. Lets go! 😁😁

xmaswiththeinlaws · 20/07/2022 09:14

Very late to the party here. Would have loved to join in. Had a thought though all those fires yesterday, I hope none were caused by errant frying eggs, unlikely I think but imagine the headlines, the shame. When we were kids we used to burn holes in paper with a magnifying glass on a hot day.

SheldontheWonderSchlong · 20/07/2022 09:40

EggsyUnwin · 19/07/2022 22:27

I enlisted the support of the entire family for this one. One egg outside in full sunlight, the other inside the car on the dashboard. Both on lightly oiled silver plates (not real silver, the tinny ones you get in the supermarket to do naice veg sticks on for parties). Both plates left out for about 90 minutes before cracking the egg.

Results are in:

Egg 1, full sunlight outside. Began at an ambient 30C and swiftly climbed to 50 on the thermometer. Egg did not cook so much as shrivel, slowly, into a desiccated mess. The yolk cooked quite quickly, while the white just dried up. On recovery some hours later, crystalline egg white scattered from the plate like ovine dandruff.

Verdict: Effective in that the egg was no longer raw, but 0/10 for eatability.

Egg 2, inside car on dashboard. Thermometer gave up entirely and the needle vanished, so well over 50C. Cracked the egg about 90 minutes later. The white began to set instantly, which was quite impressive. The yolk cooked quickly but the white took another hour or so, but we did end up with a set white, and even a little curlicue of crispy brown at the edge. When I washed the bastard plate up and dislodged the egg yolk, it actually bounced off the sink.

Verdict: Better. It wasn't exactly appetising but it did look more or less like a fried egg. The yolk however was pustulous. 2/10 for eatability. You could, but you wouldn't want to.

Conclusions: the relatively flimsy silver plates were not the ideal base for the fried egg. Ideally we would have used a thicker piece of metal with more thermal mass, which would have retained more heat and cooked the egg from below using conduction heat as per a traditional frying pan, rather than relying on the heat of the sun to cook it from above, heating it with convection heat from the hot air which ultimately dried it out rather than cooking it.

However, the hypothesis, which was "it really is quite unusually hot outside" was proved.

Thank you for coming to my Egg Talk.

Very informative and enjoyable, thank you!

dontdrinkanddriveok · 20/07/2022 10:38

This is amazing

MightbeMaybe · 20/07/2022 10:58

Came back to check your results @Enigma2000 eggcellent eggsperiment write up, thank you!

Emotionalsupportviper · 21/07/2022 10:52

EggsyUnwin · 19/07/2022 22:27

I enlisted the support of the entire family for this one. One egg outside in full sunlight, the other inside the car on the dashboard. Both on lightly oiled silver plates (not real silver, the tinny ones you get in the supermarket to do naice veg sticks on for parties). Both plates left out for about 90 minutes before cracking the egg.

Results are in:

Egg 1, full sunlight outside. Began at an ambient 30C and swiftly climbed to 50 on the thermometer. Egg did not cook so much as shrivel, slowly, into a desiccated mess. The yolk cooked quite quickly, while the white just dried up. On recovery some hours later, crystalline egg white scattered from the plate like ovine dandruff.

Verdict: Effective in that the egg was no longer raw, but 0/10 for eatability.

Egg 2, inside car on dashboard. Thermometer gave up entirely and the needle vanished, so well over 50C. Cracked the egg about 90 minutes later. The white began to set instantly, which was quite impressive. The yolk cooked quickly but the white took another hour or so, but we did end up with a set white, and even a little curlicue of crispy brown at the edge. When I washed the bastard plate up and dislodged the egg yolk, it actually bounced off the sink.

Verdict: Better. It wasn't exactly appetising but it did look more or less like a fried egg. The yolk however was pustulous. 2/10 for eatability. You could, but you wouldn't want to.

Conclusions: the relatively flimsy silver plates were not the ideal base for the fried egg. Ideally we would have used a thicker piece of metal with more thermal mass, which would have retained more heat and cooked the egg from below using conduction heat as per a traditional frying pan, rather than relying on the heat of the sun to cook it from above, heating it with convection heat from the hot air which ultimately dried it out rather than cooking it.

However, the hypothesis, which was "it really is quite unusually hot outside" was proved.

Thank you for coming to my Egg Talk.

Superb account.

I particularly liked "crystalline egg white scattered from the plate like ovine dandruff.". I know you corrected it to "ovicular", but that image of a hot sheep in desperate need of "Head 'n' Shoulders" is one which will make me smile for a long time yet.

KarrotKake · 21/07/2022 18:30

Which one of you is Georgia??

www.iflscience.com/it-was-apparently-hot-enough-in-england-to-fry-an-egg-yesterday-so-one-woman-did-64520

Blondeshavemorefun · 21/07/2022 20:28

Next time if ever get this hot again

then will leave pan outside to heat before cracking egg

i need the sizzle