Woman Sparks Outrage With Bizarre Egg Frying Technique She Apparently Learnt From Her Italian Grandmother

A woman has gone viral on social media for a creative yet controversial egg recipe that uses cucumber instead of oil.

Jana, who goes by username Jana.dvll on TikTok, can be seen lathering her skillet with a large green fruit before cracking an egg into it.

The result? A perfectly cooked sunny-side-up egg, its golden orb intact, sliding out of the pan with ease, and leaving it even cleaner than it would have been had she used oil or butter.

Jana, who appeared as astonished as some of her viewers, proclaimed that she would never use oil again.

RELATED:

The internet is not buying into the hack

Image credits: Dusan Petkovic/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)

TikTok, for the most part, is skeptical, with many attributing the success of the recipe with two million engagements to the pan’s nonstick coating.

“I don’t know how everybody is surprised that the egg isn’t stuck on a nonstick pan. [It] literally has nothing to do with the cucumber,” one commenter wrote.

To test the theory, Sara Kate Gillingham and Maxwell Ryan’s TheKitchn performed an experiment of its own.

The home cooking media outlet cracked an egg into a cold nonstick skillet and turned the heat up slowly.

Image credits: jana.dvll

The result proved effective. There was no browning at the edges with the additional upside of not having hot grease splatter out of the pan.

But it did present one drawback. The egg was “noticeably less rich and delicious” than when cooked with oil, fat or butter.

Jana claimed she learned the hack from her Italian grandmother.

TikTok had ideas on this too, with one commenter writing: “As an Italian, absolutely not. No Italian grandma would replace oil.”

She learned it from her Italian grandmother, she says

Image credits: jana.dvll

Olive oil—in the context of Italian cooking—is nothing to worry about, argued one of Jana’s followers, who sees the obsession with skipping it as misplaced.

With the exceptions of canola, corn, soybean, sunflower, safflower, and palm oils that produce unhealthy compounds when heated, cooking with oils can be healthy—especially when inflammation is a common condition, per the University of California, Davis.

Cooking with Teflon-coated cookware, however, is a source of controversy in medical and scientific circles.

Nonstick pans have a history tied to severe illnesses

Image credits: jana.dvll

Teflon, now a trademarked brand name, was known to contain a toxic chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), but the substance was phased out by 2013, according to the health guidance website, Healthline.

It was associated with thyroid disorders, chronic kidney and liver disease, and testicular cancer, along with infertility and low birth rates, according to various studies archived by the National Library of Medicine.

The coating still contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), chemicals known for their oil- and water-resistant properties.

The effects of these synthetic compounds on the human body—which are also found in rain jackets, nail polish, dental floss and carpets—are not fully understood, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Cooking without oil could be more dangerous

Image credits: jana.dvll

Manufacturers tout cooking on Teflon without oil as safe, provided the utensil does not exceed 500°F (260°C).

But according to the University of Illinois, Teflon-covered pans often have imperfections that emit gasses which are toxic at much lower temperatures.

Factors that may expedite this wear include the use of metal spatulas, abrasive scorers and detergents, cleaning in dish washer, preheating and, according to Liz Meimann, a food science expert at the University of Iowa, cooking dry—which means cooking without grease, fat or oil.

But there are alternatives

Image credits: jana.dvll

There is the traditional way of cooking eggs in a stainless steel pan and it does not need to stick. 

The trick here, according to shopping aide Prudent Reviews, is pre-heating the skillet.

The best way to test the pan’s temperature is by splashing water into it. If the droplet dances around, then it is at the right temperature. 

Image credits: Светлана Лазаренко/Adobe Stock (Not the actual photo)

Tip the moisture out, add your oil and then the egg. The same rule applies to cast iron pots, which, notably, will need a bit more grease, but the principle of preheating remains the same.

Because cast iron pots retain their temperature so well, it is essential to turn the stove all the way down once it’s hot enough, per TheKitchn.

Social media is divided over Jana’s hack

@jana.dvll that was so smooooth WHAAT? #cucumber#eggs#lifehack#breakfasthack#cookinghack♬ Love – The Something Specials & Taylor Olin

Poll Question

Thanks! Check out the results:

Newsletter

Subscribe to Access
Exclusive Polls

Subscribe

By entering your email and clicking Subscribe, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Privacy Policy.

Thank you! You've successfully subscribed to newsletters!

Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!

Follow Bored Panda on Google News!

Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda!