Ziploc omelet

[joiei]

ZIPLOC OMELET

This works great !!! Good for when all your family is together. The best partis that no one has to wait for their special omelet !!!

Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them. Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc. Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Sort of... Antonio Allegra showed me how to poach an egg in a plastic baggie; a pat of butter and an egg in rolling water and *poof* in a few minutes, a perfect poached egg (not necessarily perfectly shaped, but great for what I occasionally need poached eggs for!)

[melonpan]

ZIPLOC OMELET

This works great !!! Good for when all your family is together.  The best partis that no one has to wait for their special omelet !!!

Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack 2 eggs (large or extra-large) into the bag (not more than 2) shake to combine them.  Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa, etc. Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Nice to serve with fresh fruit and coffee cake; everyone gets involved in the process and a great conversation piece.

seriously silly.

i will do it over christmas with the family.

[moosnsqrl]

Does this count as sous vide?

[SMW]

This recipe is often recommended for camping - no egg pan to clean! I've never tried it, but I'm glad to hear it works - might be fun sometime.

[VaNC]

This was posted on another food website I go to. The discussion there resulted in much reference to the Ziploc website's caution against boiling ziplocs. That whole off-gasing into your food thing. Not recommended. Unless you don't worry about such things, which I know some don't, and will likely tell me I worry too much.

[Chris Cognac]

Awesome, I am totally trying it!

[jeroen_kb]

Definitely going to try that. I do already use clingfilm to poach eggs in. Keeps the shape perfectly and works everytime.

Just take a piece of cling film, put some olive oil on it. Take a cup or something elso hollow. Place the cling film in the cup, crack the egg open into the cling film and close the cling film and but in boiling water

[Patrick S]

The discussion there resulted in much reference to the Ziploc website's caution against boiling ziplocs.  That whole off-gasing into your food thing.  Not recommended.

←

Ziploc's website doesn't say anything at all about off-gasing or food contamination, it merely says that ziploc bags are not designed to withstand the heat of boiling. The same page states that while Ziploc sandwhich bags are too thin to be used in the microwave, the thicker Ziploc storage and freezer bags can be microwaved. IIRC, some boil-in bags are made with polyethylene, though they may be modified to have a higher softening point than standard PE.

[gourmande]

Haven't tried but certainly will!

I'm always looking for "easy cleanup" and "multi-purpose" recipes/preparations for our camping excursions.

Edit:

Bonus with this idea: the same water could be used for our tea/coffee... no waste. Thanks for the tip.

Edited May 24, 2006 by gourmande (log)

[dockhl]

I tried this for breakfast this AM and think it is...........interesting.

I used a freezer weight ziplock since it said you could microwave in it. Tossed in my beaten eggs, a lump of butter, chopped tomatoes and herbs and seasonings.

Plopped it into simmering water for 13 minutes....make sure the ziplock doesn't touch the hot metal....melts !

At 13 minutes I took it out of the water in the sink and slithered it onto a plate. The plate cracked !!

Put it on a paper plate and poured off the watery 'juice'. ? Did I get a little hole in the side by touching the pan? Maybe.

I expected this to have the texture/taste of a microwave omelet (don't ask me why !) but instead it was very spongy, not at all rubbery. The interior was a little wet for my likes (remember it calls for BOILING water, not simmering......I wasn't comfortable with that) so I'll add a minute or so if I do it again. Might be fun to try with many additions (crispy bacon, asparagus) this weekend with hubby and kid.

It think having the ziplock well submerged in a large pot of water would help a lot.

[Taboni]

Seems like an awful lot of trouble and time to make an omelet, even for a large amount of omelets.

[whisks]

are ziplock bags and foodwrap foodsafe at high temperatures?

[KOK]

I found a web video making a ziplock omelet. He used no butter and only boiled it for 10 minutes. Looked easy and like it worked fairly well.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Khadija]

I heard that this was a camping trick once, so pre-camping trip I did a test run. I forgot to use a freezer-grade bag. The plastic melted. I didn't do it on the trip and haven't tried it since. Maybe I'll give it whirl sometime soon. I have the freezer bags.

[Patrick S]

are ziplock bags and foodwrap foodsafe at high temperatures?

←

It depends on what you mean by "high." I mean, they certainly are not safe to use, say, on the grill or under a broiler. What Ziploc's site says is that:

All Saran™ Wraps, Ziploc® containers and microwaveable Ziploc® bags meet the safety requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for temperatures associated with defrosting and reheating food in microwave ovens, as well as room, refrigerator, and freezer temperatures.

[saskanuck]

Our Scout group made these omelets on one of our camping trips. I didn't make one, since I don't like eggs much, but my husband did and it worked ok. He ate it right out of the bag once it had cooled somewhat.

I don't know if they used regular ziplocs or freezer ones, but I would think they were the regular ones.

It certainly wasn't the prettiest sight, but it was easy and the cleanup was minimal. The kids had fun adding all kinds of ingredients to their eggs for custom omelets.

[shelby'smom]

We have done this for a big family reunion and it works very well. The one thing we noticed however was that you need to write the name close to the top of the bag, otherwise it might boil off. Also, it is better if you put the cheese on top when you put it on a plate, nicer texture and not gummy. My question is who was the one that came up with this and what was their motivation to try it in the first place? Not enough to do? A person addicted to Ziplocks? I did know someone who insulated their attic with used Bounce sheets, so you never know.

[Mike Hunt]

Family reunions, boil in the bag omelettes, this is a very subtle joke, right ?

[nathanm]

This could be done with Foodsaver bags, or sous vide bags which certainly can take the heat.

Ziplock probably works reasonably well.

Also, you can do it at lower tempertaure than a rolling boil, but you want to be at least 160F to get the egg to coagulate.

[chickenlady]

We do this all the time when we're camping--it's definitely not up to the standards of a "real" omelet, but everything tastes good when you're camping! Actually, they're not at all bad, and lots fun on camping trips where the kids outnumber the adults by a large margin. We always cook up lots of possible toppings in advance--roasted peppers, bacon, cheeses, onions, sausage, herbs, mushrooms, whatever--and set up an omelet station. First, write your name in permanent marker (we've never had problems with the ink washing off), then crack in your eggs, add toppings, and drop in the pot of water. Gives the kids a great sense of ownership and the adults don't have to eat food with smiley faces. It seems like it always takes us longer to cook than we think it should; not sure if this is due to high altitude or simmering vs. boiling water. It's nothing I'd do at home, but, again, great for camping.

[ilively]

I've used this recipe many times while out camping with the Boy Scouts (and Cub Scouts). This is easy enough that even the little guys can do it -- just monitor them around the pot of boiling water.

A few tricks I've learned:

1) squish out all air -- for some reason the eggs cook quicker this way

2) don't put in too much cheese, or your omelet will be 'runny'

3) Find a stick (wooden spoon?) that will fit across the top of your pot and use SPRING-clothes pins to secure the bag to the stick -- this helps prevent the bag touching the metal and melting.

We generally use quart bags -- they're heavier than sandwich bags, and have success. Alternatively, we've used gallon-sized bags (to feed 3-4 boys), with success, too.

[Jensen]

You could probably use a Foodsaver to do this too. I'm pretty sure that their bags are safe for boiling.

[bandregg]

I just mentioned this wonderful dish to a friend of mine yesterday while talking about bicycle touring. It's definitely great for a no clean up meal, all of the ingredients will survive quite a number of days on the bike (even the eggs in-shell), and it's a tasty way to start or end a day of glorious exercise through beautiful country. A quick boiled omlette, a big hunk of bread, and a glass of wine and I'm in heaven.

[chickenlady]

You could probably use a Foodsaver to do this too. I'm pretty sure that their bags are safe for boiling.

←

Hmmm... I've never found an extension cord long enough for this when I'm camping!

I know, I know. If you're doing it at home. (FoodSaver bags are supposed to be safe for boiling.) But my honest question is how would you keep the the the liquid from being sucked up into the machine? Oh, wait--you would just seal it with out sucking out the air, right? Duh!

ilively, great idea about the stick. That would help keep track of how long each bag has been cooking, too.