Anyone have a fail-safe way to poach an egg? I've tried...

D

dawnnys

Well-known member
successfully sometimes, but usually ending up with white foam and a yellow ball.

I know about the vinegar trick, the simmering, the rolling over of the white, but does anyone have any good tips? I suppose I could do a google search, but thought this post might help others too.

Thanks!

 
Dawn, I almost never actually poach eggs anymore as doing it in the microwave works

fantastically every time. And it is true poached egg in water rather than baked egg or coddled egg with butter.

I have wee bowls that are those Chinese rice bowls...blue in colour, a thin China. They work the best.
I put about 2 fingers depth of water in the bowl,(about an inch or so) break the egg into that and salt the top.
Then prick the egg well with a fork...Very Important Part.....
Then cover with a piece of paper towel, tucking it under the bowl (in case of a blast) and I do it for 50 seconds on my micro.

I then hold the bowl over the sink with that piece of paper towl, folded to not burn my fingers and holding the egg with the spoon, turn out the water.
You can of course use a small lift to get the egg out and put it on toast but I serve the egg in the bowl with the same spoon.
It goes so quickly and very quickly I learnt that each bowl with water to a certain depth takes between 50 and 70 seconds for the soft eggs we like.
If the top is not quite "white-over" I spoon some of the water on top and it soon gets that white coating.
If the first cooking of 50 secs is too short an added 15 to 20 secs will turn it out just fine.
No more messy pans, foamy stuff and extra washing up!

A richer version uses no water.... drop a bit of butter into the bowl, add the egg, prick, pour over some cream, salt well and proceed with the cooking...very delish.

 
There is a method in tips on this site and

I often poach eggs. I just boil salted water, drop my eggs in and gently boil until my toast is done. I put the toast down right before I drop the eggs. I think the time is about 2.5-3 mins and remove with slotted spoon.

 
Dawn: I'm not sure if this is what you meant by "rolling over" the white, but I use this tip I read

a while ago - just before you are ready to drop the egg into the water, stir the water vigorously in a circle with a spoon to create a little whirlpool-like thingy, then drop egg in. As it swirls, the white should cover the yellow and look like a poached egg when said and done.

 
If you want a perfect round try this.Take the ring from

a canning jar--the thing you tighten to make a whole lid. Lightly oil it and drop it in your boiling water. Put your egg in it--put vinegar in the water if you want.
If your water isn't over the top of your egg, "baste" the top by spooning water over the very top of the yolk.
The other BIG secret without using something like above is to have super super fresh eggs so the whites don't string out.
The gentle stirring in a circle and dropping the egg in the "vortex" works very well if the eggs are fresh.

 
I just started using that method. I used to do them in the nuker in buttered dishes but I'm

surprised that this is working for me. I do use vinegar, I have the water not boiling (moving) but just below.

I put each egg into a flat sort of fruit nappie dish and take it to the water and let a little water into the bowl to start to set it. Then I just slide it out. I lose very little egg white; I do 4 at a time and each time the degree of 'cookedness' is perfect.

I remove them gently with a slotted spoon.

Haven't read the other replies but maybe someone else does this.

 
A really fresh egg will form a perfect oval by itself, I've heard, but I've never had one that fresh

Dipping the egg into another pan of boiling water for 10 seconds before breaking it helps. If you're getting foamy whites, perhaps your water is boiling while the eggs are poaching--it should be almost, but not quite, simmering.

 
One way of avoiding a "scattered" white ...

Do the conventional thing of bringing water to a GENTLE simmer -- you don't want bubbles all over the place -- with 1 tsp vinegar and a good pinch of salt per cup of water. Add your eggs and simmer GENTLY for 1 minute. Cover the pan, remove from the heat, and let them sit for 4 minutes. The yolks are cooked but runny, the whites (more often than not) hold together nicely.

Julia Child always swore by those spoon-shaped things with the holes in them, and I was so excited when I found some on my first visit to New York City, but they worked like crap and I got rid of them in a yard sale.

 
My mom used to know an elderly man near our house that had chickens..

...and he'd sometimes sell a dozen or so.

Whenever we got his eggs, we'd poach a bunch for Eggs Benedict. What a treat.

Joe's on target... the freshest eggs, if you can get them, poach much easier. After a few days we found out we had to try a lot harder to get them to come out decent.

Michael

 
Michael: my sister had chickens and when I would get eggs from her, you would have thought they

were gold the way I treasured them. I'd share a few but it would kill me. Then, she decided to to give them up, sent them to a butcher but when they came back (in quite a different shape from when they went) she couldn't eat them! That's what happens when city girls move to the suburbs.

 
I use the method from an old issue of Cook's Illustrated

I'm not particular about the whites being in a perfect round, but I don't like them feathered out all over the place like I used to get when I cooked them my mother's way (which was to spoon the water over the egg).

With this method I get eggs cooked exactly the way I like them every time.

Poached Eggs

1. Fill a frying pan or other shallow pan with water nearly all the way to the top. Add a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons white distilled vinegar (I use Cider Vinegar). Bring it to a boil.

2. While heating the water, break your eggs (up to four) into a ramekin or coffee cups - one to a cup. Once the water is boiling - turn off the heat and immediately but gently pour the eggs into the hot water - try and do this very quickly so all the eggs cook the same amount of time. Do not stir or bother the eggs in any other way.

3. Cover the pan and wait four minutes. Drain the eggs over the pan in a slotted spoon and serve! For firmer eggs - cook 4 1/2 minutes. For softer eggs cook 3 1/2 minutes.

 
Our guy used to feed his chickens marigold blossoms from his garden, so...

...the yolks of the eggs were a bright yellow-orange-gold! They were amazing, and if I ever have a home with a large enough back yard, I intend to have a few chickens and a small coop.

And a garden full of marigolds.

Michael

 
Joanie, That' magical! Mine took about one minute but I might have used more water>>

However my first one landed down the sink drain when I tried to drain it. Used a slotted spoon for the second and it was great. Thanks--perfect poached eggs at last!

 
Yep, you haven't had a poached egg unless you get one warm from the hen. . .

fresh from the chicken, eggs don't have any loose whites floating around--they will look like a little oval balloon in the water.

"The gift from the chick-ens" is what I always say when collecting warm eggs from our hens!

 
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