Poached Egg Tips

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

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Let's have them, Iv'e seen some excellent ones on La Cusine.

I've tried lots of methods; deep pan, shallow pan, vinegar, clingfilm, poach pods, vortex...

The perfectly formed poached egg still eludes me :)
 
Fresh eggs is the most important. Look on youtube at a comparison video of the egg whits between fresh and old eggs, it becomes so clear why its so important.

Then i like the bring it off the boil, no stiring, basically get water as still as possible, drop egg in as fast as possible, then once it forms a white crust you can turn heat back up.
But theresc a thousand different ways and its what ever you get best results with.
 
I made these this morning, the wife's two looked a lot better but there as no waste of excess white, what you see is the whole egg nicely poached.


maccapacca said:
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Poached eggs on toast
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Largeish saucepan with boiling water and two or thee tea spoons of vinegar, today I used cider vinegar, bring to the boil then lower to stop rolling then use a shallow cup or bowl and crack a room temperature egg into the cup or bowl and roll the egg out the cup into the water gently, leave for a couple of seconds to whiten up then turn the heat up till the egg is all white but still soft then remove with a slotted spoon and place on kitchen roll to dry.
 
small deep non-stick pan. 2 inches of water + vinegar. bring to boil then swirl the water and add the egg. simmer don't boil for about 3-3.5 minutes

serve.

simple and reliable.
 
Non stick frying pan, shallow water level (shouldn't fully cover the yolk), heat the water till you see the bubbles starting to release from the bottom of the pan. Crack an egg or two in and cover with a lid, reduce heat. Simples :)
 
Saint Delia's method is quite simple. It tends to work well because you cook the egg quite slowly, and without any stirring, so it's harder to get it wrong and end up with a rubber egg. I find it's easier to break the egg into a mug, then you've got something with a handle on it to tip the egg into the water so it doesn't expand out. The fresher the egg, the better it will hold it's shape in the water.
 
OldCoals said:
Don't boil the water.
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I think this is the important thing; you're poaching them, not boiling them. I add about a teaspoon of white vinegar, stir to create the vortex and pour in the egg from a small bowl. The fresher the egg, the better the shape and form of the poached egg.
 
Glaucus said:
Fresh eggs is the most important. Look on youtube at a comparison video of the egg whits between fresh and old eggs, it becomes so clear why its so important.

Then i like the bring it off the boil, no stiring, basically get water as still as possible, drop egg in as fast as possible, then once it forms a white crust you can turn heat back up.
But theresc a thousand different ways and its what ever you get best results with.
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This is pretty much the method I use, but I use a shallow pan (usually a frying pan filled with water) so that the egg doesn't get buffeted too much.

A vortex only helps with removing the wispy bits of white.
A fresh egg will have less of this sort of white and more of the more solid white - that's what forms the actual white in the poached egg and still water lets it solidify around the yolk in a nice shape.
 
Steampunk said:
Saint Delia's method is quite simple. It tends to work well because you cook the egg quite slowly, and without any stirring, so it's harder to get it wrong and end up with a rubber egg. I find it's easier to break the egg into a mug, then you've got something with a handle on it to tip the egg into the water so it doesn't expand out. The fresher the egg, the better it will hold it's shape in the water.
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I've always used Delia's method, although it does take longer than some but 10 mins isn't a problem (need time to toast the bread afterall!). Only difference to the above link is I leave on the heat for 1 min and have them off the heat for about 8 mins. Always perfectly set whites with nice runny yolks.
I don't use of vinegar as it flavours the egg, and I don't like that.

Fresh eggs is key. Less than 1 week old, the younger the better. If I'm unsure of the exact age I test them first using the float test. Fresh eggs sink to the bottom of the glass and stay horizontal.

Oh and these are important too - lovely eggs http://www.clarencecourt.co.uk/our-range/cotswolds-legbar/
 
ZXSpectrum said:
Check out Hestons method, Fantastic every time.
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Well, the method popularised by Heston, but yes, I agree wholeheartedly.

And the best thing? Works with eggs of almost any age and doesn't matter whether they've been chilled or kept at ambient temperature.

Obviously the fresher the eggs, the better the results, but even week-old refrigerated eggs poach like champions with this method.

Raymond Lin said:
If it is what I think it is, it's basically an boiled egg, in a bag.
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Depends on your criteria for a boiled egg. For me, that means it's cooked in its shell.

And while one could argue that poaching requires direct contact between the egg and the water, the cling-film method is more akin to poaching than boiling, especially as far as the results are concerned.
 
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