The Perfect Poached Egg
So how do you poach an egg? Many options are available. You can use an elaborate poaching pan that has little round Teflon lined cups and a double boiler(although your finished product may resemble the flower pot hats the band Devo used to wear in the Eighties), or you could purchase a CombiTherm oven for around $50,000 and poach your egg right in the shell(it’s already programmed in). If these options don’t appeal to you, there is always the classic approach.
You will need a pot with water that is roughly two inches deep, a deep walled sauté pan works well due the increased base area, we don’t want to crowd the eggs.
Pot with roughly 2 inches of H2O
Put a pinch of salt in the water to assist the flavor of the eggs.
Pinch! of Mr. Salt
The first helpful tip, put a teaspoon or two of vinegar into the water, this helps with coagulation of the egg whites. Any acidity added to the water will work, even our friend Mr. Salt assists with this.
Any white vinegar will work.
Now comes the inside, super secret, all pro, kitchen insiders trick, get ready, bring the water to a simmer.
Room temperature eggs will cook faster!
Take a slotted spoon, hold everything, I forgot to mention you should crack the eggs into a small bowl and have them at the ready(this will prevent the accidental ingestion of broken shell or a broken yolk), ok back to poaching,
Swirl water in a clockwise direction
take the slotted spoon and stir the water in the pot in a clockwise direction, to create a whirlpool of sorts, carefully slide the eggs in(you can get about four eggs going in six quarts of water)
Sliding eggs into the whirlpool of sorts
and watch them spin around to poached perfection, about four to six minutes.
Swirling Eggs!
The whites will appear firm and the yolk should be set but soft.
Perfection!
If you enjoy hard poached eggs, just leave them in a few minutes longer, carefully remove the eggs with your slotted spoon and enjoy. Poached eggs, healthy and delicious.
Chef Chris
