Tis then I took to poaching, as you shall quickly hear

[venta]

A personal achievement: last night I had a poached egg for tea.

It was round, correctly cooked, and coherent.

Me and poached eggs do not have a good history. I think I first attempted to cook them when somewhere with davefish and keris. It was not a success.

You get your pan of simmering water, crack an egg into it... and the egg immediately spreads around the pan into a stream of messy tendrils of albumen. I don't care what Delia says, this happens every time; the result is not my idea of a poached egg.

People have recommended stirring the water quickly so you're cracking the egg into a vortex. This, they say, will keep the egg a coherent shape. They lie.

Others recommend putting vinegar into the hot water. As far as I can tell, this doesn't work and it makes your egg taste of vinegar.

I bought a device called an egg poacher, which was like a diddy little ladle which hung over the edge of the pan. It did keep the egg coherent, but also made sure that the bottom was cooked solid and rubbery while the top was still runny.

Yesterday I experimented with a theory. I got my pan of water up to a simmer, and then I dropped a largeish biscuit-cutter into it. I cracked the egg so that it fell inside the biscuit-cutter. Bingo! My egg remained contained while it cooked. There was much rejoicing.

(I should note that you need a metal biscuit-cutter - the plastic ones float, and may not take kindly to being immersed in near-boiling water.)

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

What do you consider "an egg poacher" ? (I've heard people use that term to mean anything from a small metal ladle to a full-on independent electric appliance.)

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

Something like a small metal ladle that sits on the edge of a pan of water.

[dave [earth.li] (from livejournal.com)]

I have a (1970s and aluminum) device which is basically a small (inch high) lidded saucepan with a rack containing 4 little cups each of which is the right size for a single egg.

I suspect that the lid will help with your problem with the plastic ladle leaving it raw on top.

It's a bit like http://www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-NON-STICK-4-CUP-EGG-POACHER/dp/B001DNEOY6

I've never tried the complicated ways of doing things. I'm with you on using eggs that are way too old.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

That's what we always used when I was growing up and it worked just great - I've often wondered about getting one. I have never successfully poached an egg since, for the general reasons as stated by venta

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

My mum used to do this in the microwave. I cannot remember how. We only had to clean egg off the ceiling once.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I exploded an egg in the microwave once. It was a soft boiled egg that I wanted to become hard boiled, so I microwaved it. Fortunately, I had had the foresight to peel it, stab it and cover it with a bowl because I rather expected it to happen. Tasted fine.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I spit-roasted an egg over a fire once (largely because someone said it couldn't be done).

The conclusion was that it can be done but it really, really shouldn't be. It was the nastiest egg I've ever eaten.