- [Sarah] I'm in Florida and it's hot.
And for a lot of us stuck at home,
we're getting a little antsy, a little bored.
So that's why I decided to test the age old adage,
it's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk,
with my own sidewalk.
The temperature right now is in the upper 90s.
The feel-like is 10 degrees above that.
I think it should be pretty easy.
Let's find out.
(upbeat music)
Oh crap.
Well, it's got some shells in that.
All right, let's let her rip.
I'm sweating so much, it is so hot out here.
I can't believe this isn't cooking.
Is this the hottest sidewalk?
- [Man] Probably not gonna cook on any of the sidewalks.
- [Sarah] You don't think it's gonna cook at all.
Turns out, it's not as easy as I thought.
I did miserably.
I think it's time to pull out the big guns.
I'm reaching out to the world's
foremost egg frying on the sidewalk expert.
Fred Eck.
- [Fred] My name is Fred Eck.
I was the producer of the Oatman egg frying
for the last 30 years.
- So how did the Oatman egg frying contest start?
- [Fred] That that came to be about
because we were the hottest spot in the nation.
We're right in the desert.
We're right in the tri-state area of California,
Nevada, and Arizona, right on the Colorado River.
I said, we gotta do something for the summertime
because we're always talking about
having nothing to do in the summer because it's too hot.
- And if it's that hot,
might as well make it fun to be outside.
- [Fred] Yeah, I said, well, why don't we
have a egg fry on the sidewalk and see what that could do.
Bring a lot of people.
And that started the whole thing off.
So on July the 4th, 1993, we had an egg fry.
Well, we first put the egg onto the sidewalk
to see if we could fry it on the sidewalk.
- You threw it on the sidewalk and it just didn't work.
- [Fred] The egg just sat there and it didn't do anything.
- It didn't work for me either.
- [Fred] We couldn't fry any eggs on the sidewalk
in 15 minutes because the temperature
would have to be 160 degrees.
Well, you'd be frying yourself as well as the egg.
So we couldn't do that.
Main thing is, is to have a device
that's gonna make that egg fry,
like a frying pan or something like that.
And it's gotta be hot.
And if it's not hot, it's not gonna work.
- Describe to me the perfect sidewalk egg.
What does it look like?
- [Fred] Well, the outside of the egg,
of course, is kind of a gel.
And it's transparent.
When that turns white, your egg is fried.
- Are there any really weird methods
people use to fry eggs on the sidewalk?
Like something I wouldn't have thought of.
- [Fred] People have come up with devices
where they cook them in frying pans.
So they used aluminum foil,
magnifying glasses, and glasses, and all kinds of stuff.
A trombone, and it's upside down.
The ring would draw the heat to the egg
and shoot it up to the egg.
- I see another one where it looks like
somebody had foil in a jar.
- [Fred] Yeah, that was a device where
the jar was amplified the heat.
It was very unique and different.
The device one time that was really good was a solar mirror.
He cooked the eggs in three minutes.
And it was fried to a crisp.
So you can do it.
- You could actually make a full breakfast
if you have the right kind of device?
- [Fred] Absolutely.
They were cooking eggs, and bacon, and hash browns.
And I couldn't believe that.
But I saw it and they did it.
- So an important part of egg frying is the showmanship.
You have to fry it with style.
- [Fred] Right, right, right.
They get all dressed up in different costumes.
And that was some of the fun.
They dressed up as the devil, as a welder,
anything to draw attention to the fact
that we're frying eggs on the sidewalk.
- Yeah, so you're in Arizona, it's hot.
I'm in Florida, it's really hot, but it's not 115 degrees.
Is that hot enough to fry an egg?
- [Fred] I know you can do it.
Papa Sun up there, he'll take care of you.
And he'll fry your egg real good.
Just come up with something and it'll work.
- So I don't have solar mirrors,
but I do have regular mirrors.
I think I can rig up a few of these devices
that people have used to fry eggs at this contest.
And hopefully one of 'em works.
All right, egg, you got it.
Okay, so it's hot in Florida, but it's not Death Valley hot.
So I'm already at a disadvantage.
So I'm gonna need all the devices I can find
to try to get eggs hot enough so that they can actually fry.
With this pan I'm gonna try with a magnifying glass.
I'm just gonna set it up like this.
Let's try this other weirdest method in a glass container.
You gotta get it in foil.
I gotta get it in there.
I think I gotta get like a mirror out here too.
So I'm gonna just put that light right on the egg,
Just egg in a foil.
Now it's really hot, 122 degrees.
- [Watch] 15 and counting.
- [Sarah] So this one's got the mirror.
This one's got the magnifying glass.
This one's this weird contraption.
This is pretty just basic.
So we're gonna be able to compare these four eggs.
One of them better cook, that's all I gotta say.
This one already looks pretty good.
Didn't have a dog costume, but had the dog head.
So now I'm a hot dog and I'm working on some hot eggs.
Peace!
Oh my god, this is actually like way too hot.
I don't think I can do this.
Oh god.
How's everything going?
Oh my god, they're not near needing to turn.
It is so hot out, and these eggs are not cooking.
I'm using the devices.
I wish I had something solar powered,
like Fred suggested, but I don't.
So I'm just trying my best.
I'll never make bacon.
So still hours have passed and the eggs
are not quite getting there.
So I really gotta step it up.
So now I'm gonna fry an egg,
and I'm going to apply everything to this one egg.
I'm putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak.
So this is what I'm doing.
I'm gonna be preheating the pan on the hood of this car
because it's much hotter on the hood of that car.
So get it nice and hot.
I'm gonna be using the magnifying glass.
I'm gonna be using the mirror.
And hopefully I'm gonna finally fry an egg
on this hot ass sidewalk.
Oh my god, wait, I think it's working.
Oh my god.
Wait a second.
I can't believe how well this is working, oh my god.
All right, we gotta add bacon.
Oh my God.
(bacon sizzling)
You hear that sizzle?
Oh my god, I'm gonna be able to do a whole breakfast.
That's a good looking egg.
I mean, I actually probably like it...
Honestly, I think I overcooked the egg.
Honestly, preheating the cast iron on the car
was key for this to be successful.
Hey, who knows?
Maybe next year if the pandemic's gone
I'll travel to Arizona and enter
that egg frying competition myself.
'Cause I think, I think I got it now.
Bye
(dramatic music)