Just Because You Can Cook An Egg With A Blow Dryer, Doesn't Mean You Should
You read that right: You can use a hair dryer to make an egg, but that doesn't mean it's a great idea. While the trend is making the rounds on TikTok, it's not a relatively new concept. People have been attempting cooking experiments with hair dryers and eggs since at least 2018. We're not sure what it is about an egg that makes people want to cook them on everything but the stove, but eggs have been cooked on the sidewalk as well as in the dishwasher, which might just take the prize for the weirdest way to boil an egg. So, of course, a hair dryer is fair game.
As several TikTok videos have pointed out, it's a fairly easy process. All you have to do is crack an egg in a pan and turn on the hair dryer. From there, it's a game of trying to not blow your egg yolks across the room while the egg starts to form. However, we at Mashed don't recommend this cooking method for a number of reasons, especially since its fairly easy to cook an egg on the stove. You can cook the perfect egg nine different ways (at least), and none of them involve a hair dryer.
Hair dryers are also unsanitary, and the last thing you want to do is use a device that's been around hair. According to Today, blow dryers, whether for hair or hands, can potentially circulate germs. However, there's a bigger reason you should reconsider trying this cooking method.
Think twice about the hair dryer
By using a hair dryer, you risk potentially opening yourself and your dinner guests to food poisoning. According to the U.S. Drug and Food Administration, raw eggs should reach a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 seconds to be considered safe to eat. Eggs have a risk of getting bacteria like Salmonella on the shell, which then can be transported inside the egg itself, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the best ways to reduce the chances of food poisoning is to cook an egg thoroughly.
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However, many blow dryers heat up to anywhere between 80 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Even on the high end, this is lower than the recommended temperature by the FDA. Likewise, eggs cooked with a hair dryer are unlikely to offer the firmness that many desire. Eggs need to reach a temperature of 158 degrees for the proteins in the eggs to thicken, forming that eggy texture many of us know and love. So, if you're using a hair dryer, you're left with a slightly soupy egg that could potentially have hair in it and could get you sick. If you're already cracking an egg into a pan, just use the stove while you're at it.