Every now and then, I stumble upon a caker recipe that should come with a hazard sticker. When Mattel 1974 – she of Mexican Hat fame – sent me this recipe involving Ziploc bags, I was all like "Danger Will Robinson!" In a nutshell, you put eggs and chopped things into a Ziploc freezer bag, boil the bags and presto – individual omelettes!
But the more I thought about it, the more the recipe seemed, well, toxic. Even by my standards. Was it safe to boil freezer bags? Mattel 1974 said she’d never been brave enough to try it. That's when I visited the worldwide web for the answer. I found it on the Ziploc site which basically said, “Don't boil freezer bags, you caker fool.”
Fellow cakers, I know the idea of making omelettes without dirtying a frypan or – god forbid – having to flip the damn things might sound appealing, but please refrain. Instead, I've come up with a better solution – just boil your eggs in paper bags.
Make sure you read the recipe instructions below. The lady who submitted this recipe was working it HARD!
Thanks, Mattel 1974! I will forever wonder what these omelettes would've tasted like.
2 eggs, large or extra large
Cheese, ham, chopped onion, green pepper, red pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, whatever your prefer
This works great for guests. Have guests write their name on a quart size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker pen. (See note 1)
Crack 2 eggs into a Ziploc bag, shake bag to combine eggs. Put out a variety of ingredients as mentioned above. Each guests adds ingredients of their choice to their bag and shakes it. Make sure to get all the air out of the bag, then zip it shut.
Have ready a large pot of boiling water, place bags in rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in one pot. For more have another pot ready. Open the bag and the omelet will roll out easily.
BE PREPARED FOR EVERYONE TO BE AMAZED. (See note 2)
Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake. Everyone gets involved in the process and it is a great conversation piece.
Imagine having these ready the night before, then in the morning putting in the bag and boiling for 13 minutes and you have a nice breakfast.
THIS REALLY WORKS. (See note 3)
Note 1: For those who like a few extra chemicals.
Note 2: SHE MEANS IT, FOLKS. PREPARE.
Note 3: IT'S NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE.
Click on the image for full caps effect.
She probably poaches salmon in the dishwasher as well. The pile of horse manure that I've got ready to build a hotbed is up to 70°C - let me know if that thwows up any culinary possibilities for you. I'm sure there's an egg dish there just waiting to be created. ' Oeufs en Cacotte'?
ReplyDeleteI've heard about poaching fish in the dishwasher, but it's always confused me. Mainly because I can't figure out how to work my dishwasher. And wouldn't the fish taste all soapy? Seems to me like the dryer would be a better choice.
DeleteI'll put the thinking cap on for your horse manure pile. It'd be a shame to see all that poop go to waste without something edible growing out of it.
If I tried that, it would end up being a giant mess. The bags would probably open or explode and there would be egg everywhere! I'm thinking this recipe was probably written before there were warnings about the bpa's in plastic.
ReplyDeleteWhen my husband couldn't make it home for dinner, sometimes I would make up a plate and wrap it in Clingwrap. He said something to me about not doing that anymore, and I told him "Well ya know, if you'd make it home for dinner, we wouldn't have that problem, would we?' He never brought up the issue again.
I suppose if the bag opened, you could just called it "Boiled Scrambled Eggs" and no one would be none the wise. Good on you for breaking it down to the hubby. And hey - at least you made him a plate.
DeleteSo... Personally I think this is a GREAT idea and I think I might try it. Surely (Shirley?), the toxic chemicals from briefly boiling a ziploc can't be worse than 3 cans of Cream-of-Something soup plus a cup of mayo/margarine/Jell-o. What about those boil-in-bags if you really are too scrupulous for boiling Ziplocs. Additionally, my DolllarTree zip bags have NO warnings on the box about heating them, so bombs away, I say!!! Sounds like a fun Caker party - similar to a non-caker Belgian Waffle party.
ReplyDeleteHold on. You don't "briefly" boil anything. You put that bag in boiling water for 13 cockadoodle minutes. Do you what kind of things can be absorbed by an egg in 13 minutes? Like, a lot.
DeleteWith all the chemicals we Caker's consume - Dream Whip, Jell-O ( horse hooves ) what's a few more chemicals via the Zip Loc bag. Next thing you know you'll be all crazy and gluten free this, dairy free that , practically vegan. Heaven sakes.
ReplyDeleteIt's official: I'm coming out with a gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free caker cookbook. It'll have a cover, a back cover and nothing in between.
Delete"I will forever wonder what these omelettes would've tasted like."
ReplyDeleteI've had some 'omelettes' on airlines that were probably close.
I'm talking YOU Air India!
Oh, come on. Airline food isn't that bad, is it? On second thought, maybe that's the real reason for the air sickness bags.
DeleteSo you didn't make it?
ReplyDeleteWell, I think that the chemicals and preservatives are keeping me alive.
Don't be surprised if this ends up on my blog soon.
I didn't make it. But if you're feeling brave, give it a whirl and let me know how it turns out. I'm curious. But not that curious.
DeleteSeriously, there is some sort of "fancy" cooking technique where you boil stuff in a plastic bag ( really... I saw it on the cooking channel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide ), but I think they use some sort of SPECIAL expensive plastic. Anyway, it all seemed too hoity toity and time consuming to me. So maybe this is where the ziploc idea came from.
ReplyDeleteI just checked that Wikipedia page and it said you cook the food in the bag FOR 72 HOURS. WHO HAS 72 HOURS TO COOK ANYTHING?
DeleteI KNOW!!!!!! Thank God for Cakers. Use a ziploc and boil in up in a couple minutes.
DeleteMadame -- you are correct! Martha Stewart had a special technique on her show for poaching eggs in Saran Wrap - it works great! Perhaps I could make the omelets in Saran Wrap instead. Doesn't sound messy at all!
DeleteI don't live in Canada, but I can see it from my porch (I'm in Detroit) so I know "Caker" and I can vouch that this DOES in fact work. We made these on many cub scout campouts with my son and while the thought of the chemicals always kind of skeeved me out, the omelets were always a big hit with the kids. We didn't even use the freezer bags, we used regular thin ziploc sandwich bags and tossed them in a pot of boiling water on a campfire.
ReplyDeleteShout out to Detroit! I was in cubs and we ate worse things when we were at camp. Like stew with fatty beef chunks. And porridge. And twigs.
DeleteYou can actually buy boilable plastic bags (http://www.packitgourmet.com/BoilableBags.html). Remember the Dazey Seal-A-Meal? I don't know if they still sell refill bags for it, but they were meant to be boiled.
ReplyDeleteTell you what--if I manage to try this recipe, I'll make sure to report back. Let the fun begin!
Americans have all the good stuff. I don't know if I can buy those bags in Canada. By the way, "boilable" is my new favourite word. As in:
Delete"How are you feeling today, Brian?"
"Positively boilable."
If you make the recipe using a boilable bag, let me know how they turn out.
Girl Scouts make these. (I don't eat eggs, but I have seen it done.) The kids eat it.
ReplyDeleteHere's a fun one too. Put a hot dog in a bun. Wrap in foil. Put it in an empty, washed out 1/2 gallon wax over cardboard milk/juice carton. The kind without the plastic twist opening. Put in fire circle. Light on fire. when it's gone the hot dog will be cooked. Guaranteed that kids who won't eat hot dogs will after this.
Hold on. You put a hot dog in a milk carton, set it on fire and it cooks the hotdog??? I don't understand how these things get discovered.
DeleteOK, this is fantastic! It reminds me of soft boiling eggs, sous-vide style! Whomever said Cakers weren't sophisticated in the kitchen was dead wrong.
ReplyDeleteIs that sous-vide thing what Madame M referred to? Where you cook something in water for 72 hours? Alls I'm saying is that, by the time those eggs are done, they'll probably be chickens.
Delete