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

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

If the white doesn't coagulate properly and spreads around a lot, then alas, your eggs aren't fresh enough. These days I only poach eggs on they day I buy them, and if they're from the FM stall which sells "today's" eggs, so much the better.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

I'd put salt into the water rather than vinegar.
And I usually poach eggs in twos, so that I can check whether the one that's cracked carefully into the water stays together better than the one delivered at speed.
And I always forget which worked better, and have to do the same again the next time.

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

Clever! You don't need it now, but in case anyone else is interested, j4 bought me a Poach Pod which has made me very happy.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I tend to crack the egg onto a plate first, which holds it together better, but still not perfectly round... more sort of oval. The biscuit cutter idea is good, especially as now you can have cute shaped eggs... if you're not horrified by the idea of cutesy food, that is.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I don't really like poached eggs, but now I have the urge to make one with my aeroplane-shaped biscuit cutter...

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

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.

This gives a clue as to what was maybe happening in the pre-biscuit-cutter days. Poaching eggs involves only an inch deep of water. If it makes a difference whether the cutter sinks or floats then the pan you're using is way too deep.

[wechsler.livejournal.com]

I must admit I've never actually poached an egg, much as I enjoy them.

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

I can't make it work without an egg poacher.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

The real problem is that poached eggs, like corned beedf, are not food. Please have a rather amusing logistical problem suitable for blogging with something nicer, like maybe biscuits or cheese.

Corned beed, jesus. That's not food either, but because it doesn't exist.

[ulfilias.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....Does this mean that Bat shaped poached eggs are going to become a speciality at yours ???

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

metame (who is in Germany and can't speak for himself right this moment because he's at a conference dinner) has mentioned clingfilm as an egg holding solution in the past.
I haven't tried it mostly because i'm not actually that fond of poached eggs. The other reason being that i'm sure I remember my mother producing perfectly fine poached eggs without using any of the above techniques. I have yet to manage this.

[(Anonymous)]

If it's such a clart, I'm glad I HATE poached eggs.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

I do it with a pan of slightly salted just off the boil water. I stire to create a slight vortex and then break the egg into that. Wait 4-5 mins and fish out.

Of course I have the luxury or advantage of using eggs I picked out of the nestbox the day before....

[davefish.livejournal.com]

On a related note, Yay! Whitbytime!!!

[lathany.livejournal.com]

What shape of biscuit cutter?