We Tried A Bizarre Kitchen Tool Made Specifically For Flipping Fried Eggs
Few foods are as satisfying as a simple fried egg. Combining the luxurious, umami-rich, slightly runny egg yolk with practically anything, from toast to a piping hot bowl of ramen noodles, is a textural and flavorful masterpiece. The problem with making a fried egg is that it can be challenging to cook without inadvertently puncturing the delicate yolk.
Indeed, a standard spatula can be clunky, and even those skilled at using them will sometimes have trouble flipping an egg before it slides off or gets folded in half. Enter the Fridja Silicone Egg Spatula, available exclusively at Walmart. This tool looks like a spatula-tong hybrid that promises to grip and flip anything you cook in a non-stick pan quickly and effectively.
As a chef who ran a bed and breakfast for almost 18 years, I know a few things about making breakfast. I've made more fried eggs, pancakes, and French toast than I can count. Even I encounter a hiccup when trying to flip these items with a spatula on occasion, so I was intrigued to see if this odd-looking tool was the key to unlocking flipping freedom. I purchased one and tested it, not once, but twice, to see how well it handled a delicate fried egg. Read on to see if this combination gripper and flipper is all hype or the prescription for ending your fried egg woes.
How does the Fridja Silicone Egg Spatula work?
The Fridja Silicone Egg Spatula combines two tools — a spatula and tongs — into one super scooper. The flexible, dishwasher-safe, all-in-one kitchen tool is theoretically designed to scoop under a fried egg being cooked in a nonstick pan, grip the whites on either side of the still-tender yolk, and flip it right over without tearing the egg white, dropping the egg, or piercing the yolk.
It almost sounds too good to be true, so I tested it as described by frying some eggs in a nonstick pan. I always obtain fresh, organic eggs and cook them in half a tablespoon of butter. Once the whites were set, I attempted to scoop, grip, and flip the eggs. Unfortunately, when I went to clamp the tongs around the egg yolk, they didn't clamp down far enough to grab the egg, causing it to slide off the spatula and fall back into the pan.
After attempting to flip all three eggs in the pan, dropping or damaging them, and eventually burning my breakfast, I regrouped and tried again. I'm not a quitter, and I figured the problem wasn't the tool but how I grasped it. The second time I tried, I grabbed the tool closer to the base of the handle and squeezed it shut more aggressively. Though I was somewhat more successful in grabbing the egg, I still could not get it flipped without dropping it and breaking the yolk.
Where to buy the Fridja Silicone Egg Spatula
The Fridja Silicone Egg Spatula is available for purchase nationwide from Walmart exclusively. While prices and availability may vary, the one I bought cost $4.99 plus tax. I could not locate one at a store within a two-hour radius of where I lived, so I ordered one and had it shipped for $3.54. It took 12 days to be shipped and delivered to my residence.
As of the date of this review, this tool is still unavailable at stores near me, and the purchase price has gone up to $10.60 plus tax and shipping. Its current estimated delivery date is 24 days from now. I find this astonishing, though not surprising, given the popularity and proliferation of kitchen gadgets to accommodate virtually every culinary endeavor you never knew you needed to master. For reference, I did search for comparable gadgets from other retailers. Many exist, though prices were all over the map.
The final verdict
So, was this tongula some miraculous egg-flipping device that solved my fried egg woes? Not even close. I found it clunky to work with and lacking in quality. It is flimsy and deficient in heft, making it useless for anything with a modicum of weight. But perhaps its biggest flaw is that it does not grip. To get the spatula part to join the tong part, you have to squeeze so hard and at such an awkward angle that it results in overcooked, broken eggs.
To give it the benefit of the doubt, once the eggs were cooked, it worked as well as a plain spatula to plate the eggs, but that doesn't require a specialized tool that costs a pretty penny. As for its utility for anything other than eggs, it wouldn't work for pancakes because it would damage the batter and is not strong enough to handle a hamburger, steak, or even a fish filet.
The bottom line is that this tool is a massive waste of space, time, and money. Stick with a plain, high-quality spatula. It will do the job, even if it takes practice to master lipping a fried egg without breaking the yolk.