When my colleague, Elsa McDowell, passed along a recipe from a friend for an omelet in a bag, I did what any savvy journalist would do ? went straight to the Internet.

There it was, of course. It's basically eggs mixed with omelet ingredients of your choice, which are sealed in a food freezer bag and boiled.

But I found more people intrigued by the idea than ones who actually had tried it. So I had to see for myself.

This morning, a Thursday, I suddenly remembered it while ironing my clothes for work. So I headed to the kitchen, put on a pot of water to boil, chopped and sauteed about a quarter cup of mushrooms in a teaspoon of butter and grated a small hunk of Spanish Manchego cheese (nutty and delicious) that happened to be in the refrigerator.

I put two large eggs in a quart-size freezer bag, gave it a couple of vigorous shakes, but no more. I added salt, pepper, the mushrooms and cheese, and gave it another shake. After pressing the air out of the bag and closing it tightly, I set the timer for 13 minutes (per instructions) and dropped the bag into the boiling water. It didn't look very promising.

While waiting, I brushed my teeth, made the bed, washed the cat bowls and put on some makeup. Then the timer began beeping.

The bag was lifted out of the water with tongs and briefly set on a dish towel to cool and absorb the water droplets on the outside. Then I cut the bag open and rolled the "omelet," which was shaped somewhat like a burrito, onto a plate.

The moment of truth had come. Fork in hand, I pierced the omelet and raised up a bite. I was expecting the outcome to be dry and dense, but it was remarkably tender.

No, it wasn't light and fluffy like a good French omelet, but it wasn't scrambled eggs, either. It was tasty, actually quite tasty.

But was it OK to eat eggs boiled in a plastic freezer bag?

I called the consumer hotline for Ziploc, which is a product of SC Johnson, one of the primary makers of food storage bags. The woman who answered, who declined to give her name, said boiling the bag couldn't be recommended because the bag had not been tested, nor was it designed, for that. She said the bag is made of polyethylene, which melts at 230 degrees. The boiling point of water is 212 degrees. For safety purposes, it would be up to the person's discretion, she told me.

I e-mailed the same question to the makers of Glad bags. They also would not recommend boiling food in their freezer bags.

Oh, well. For the record, my bag didn't melt or show any signs of breakdown, but the experts don't think this is such a good idea.

Hot slaw

Linda Wiljamaa of Mount Pleasant asked for an old recipe for hot slaw. She remembers her great-great-grandmother making it, and describes it as very creamy, a little sweet and possibly had bacon drippings in it.

There are several variations of hot slaw, as readers revealed.

Zella Wilt of Georgetown writes, "My husband grew up in Pennsylvania and his family passed along many Pennsylvania-Dutch recipes. Here are a couple for hot slaw ..."

Pepper Cabbage

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 green or red pepper, finely cut

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Hot Salad Dressing (recipe follows)

Mix the shredded cabbage, green or red pepper and salt. Let stand for one hour. Drain off all liquid. Pour Hot Salad Dressing over the cabbage and mix well.

Serve at once.

Hot Salad Dressing

1 tablespoon butter or bacon or chicken fat

1 teaspoon flour

1/2 cup vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 egg yolk, beaten

Melt shortening over low heat and blend in flour. Heat until mixture bubbles. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar. Bring to a boil and cook 1 to 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Mix together the sugar, mustard, salt and pepper; stir into the liquid. Cook for 4 minutes.

Pour gradually into the beaten egg yolk and return the mixture to the pan and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Makes 3/4 cup dressing.

Dutch Slaw

1 head cabbage

Salt to taste

1 egg

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

1/4 cup cider vinegar

Shred cabbage rather fine. Put in sauce pan and sprinkle with salt. Cover pan and place over low heat. Steam until very tender.

Beat egg, add the sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar. Pour over the steamed cabbage. Heat for 5 minutes. Serve at once.

From RonPollitt of Kiawah Island: "I don't know if the recipe below will work for Linda Wiljamaa of Mount Pleasant, because it doesn't contain cream and hence may not be the 'creamy' dressing she has in mind. It is, however, an excellent dressing for fresh spinach, leaf lettuce, coleslaw and many raw or lightly steamed vegetables. She could probably make it creamy by carefully adding some cream to the mixture after it comes to the boil, but I've never tried it."

Spinach/Slaw Dressing (Family Recipe)

1/8 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup vinegar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

3-5 tablespoons bacon drippings

Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add bacon drippings and stir.

Cool mixture and pour over washed, fresh spinach or shredded cabbage and carrots (vegetable slaw mixture) and toss. Serve at room temperature.

Betty Dively also called. Betty is visiting in the Charleston area from Verona, Va., which she describes as halfway between Roanoke and Winchester. She was born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley. Beautiful country! Here's her version, which does include milk.

Hot slaw

For cabbage:

2 tablespoons bacon grease

1 medium-size head of cabbage, shredded

Salt and pepper to taste

For dressing:

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vinegar

2 tablespoons butter

For the cabbage: Put the bacon grease in a skillet, add shredded cabbage and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tender; add the cooked dressing.

For the dressing: Beat the eggs, sugar and flour together, add the milk and vinegar.

Add 2 tablespoons butter, put in pot, and cook over medium heat until it gets thick, stirring constantly.

Frances Hooper's recipe gets a little fancier with the use of red and green cabbage, sour cream and more. Frances, from North Charleston, offers this:

Hot Slaw or Confetti Salad

2 to 3 tablespoons bacon drippings

2 teaspoons flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

Dash of cayenne pepper

1 egg

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup milk

1 cup sour cream

3 cups green cabbage, finely shredded

3 cups red cabbage, finely shredded

3/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced

6 strips bacon, crisply fried and crushed

Blend bacon drippings, flour, sugar, salt, dry mustard and cayenne pepper in skillet. Beat egg and vinegar together; add to mixture in skillet. Cook over low heat until smooth and thick; stir constantly.

Combine milk and sour cream. Stir into thickened mixture. Pour over cabbage, onions and bacon.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Who's got the recipe?

--Here we are in the heart of Dixie and only one recipe (a beef version) came for barbe- cue hash, which was requested by Lisa C. Carey of Ladson. So let's give it another go- round.

--Deborah Beahm of Mount Pleasant, the mother of our wonderful and talented staff photographer Grace Beahm, called to see if we could track down a recipe for Italian Rum Cake. She used to get it, especially around Christmastime, from a bakery in Silver Springs, Md. Rum, of course, is among the ingredients. The bakery decorated the cake with green and red cherries and sliced almonds, Deborah thinks.

--Marie Link of Goose Creek is looking for "different" lasagna recipes, other than with red sauce.

--A North Charleston reader would like ideas for good fruit salads.

Reach Food Editor Teresa Taylor by calling 937-4886; e-mailing food@postandcourier.com; writing to The Post and Courier, 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403; or faxing to 937-5579.