From the July 6th Chicago Tribune "So hot, you can fry an egg on sidewalk? Whose idea was that? "by Bob Manker.
The Chicagoland area has really been hit up with a bit of a heatwave: three straight days of 100+ and today in the mid-90s. And, it was in the 90s most of last week. It has bothered me, even though it usually doesn't. And poor Liz is about to dab her head off.
The earliest-known reference to the above cliche appeared in the June 11, 1899, edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Later, the October 5, 1933 Los Angeles Times mentioned it. There is a June 14, 1929, of two women with one holding what appears to be a fried egg in a skillet on a concrete wall in Washington, D.C. with the caption "Women frying eggs near US Capitol."
Sadly, however, it would have to be really, really hot to cook an egg, even more than Chicago's record 103 degrees this past Thursday. An egg needs a temperature of 158 degrees F. to become firm.
And, a bit of Route 66 connection. The organizers of the Sidewalk Egg Frying Contest in the venerable old one-horse, many burros, town of Oatman, Arizona, have been running the even every July 4th since 1991 did not have a winner from among the 15 contestants Wednesday, even though they were allowed to use aids such as foil, mirrors and magnifying glasses (no blowtorches though).
A YouTube serach of "fry egg on sidewalk" tuened up 200 attempts.
How Hot Was It? --DaCoot
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