BS: How to poach an egg

Subject: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 08:54 PM

I'm not too bad at cooking stuff but I have never been able to poach eggs. I've had those shallow pans with a removable insert for each egg that just makes the white tough and which you then throw away because they cannot be cleaned. I've had silicone egg holders that you're supposed to plunge into boiling water. I've tried adding vinegar. You get vinegar-flavoured eggs. Sheesh. I've tried deep pans with water whipped into a whirlpool. Masses of egg white strands that clog your kitchen for days. But as Mrs Steve was away today, I experimented.

I've finally cracked it (yes, I know...). It's easy.

1. You need a wide, shallow pan of water that's barely simmering. A rolling boil is your worst enemy. You want just the faintest sign of little bubbles. The water needs to be no less than an inch and a half deep.

2. You need very fresh eggs. Those eggs which have a stiff bit of white round the yolk. If your eggs aren't that fresh, make an omelette instead.

3. Crack your eggs individually into cups/glasses, whatever.

4. Feed each egg gently into the water. Hurry up if you have two or three to cook. Keep the water on an eggstremely gentle simmer.

5. No mucking about. No swirling, no bloody Sarsons, nothing. Just leave 'em. You could be getting on with the toast.

6. They need three minutes on a gentle simmer. Lift them out individually on to your buttered toast. A very small sprinkle of salt and pepper is good.   You will never die.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 09:36 PM

Julia Child discussed learning to poach eggs in the book My Life In France (it was an epistolary of sorts, written by her nephew from letters Julia and Paul wrote over many years, I listened to an audio version so I can't go to the page to tell you where to look). Poached eggs don't just happen, they take practice. (It's a wonderful book if you haven't read it.)

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 09:45 PM

"How to poach an egg"

Stealthily wearing camouflage under cover of darkness.....

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jeri
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 10:51 PM

I've been doing the swirly thing.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: frogprince
Date: 24 Nov 17 - 11:16 PM

"three minutes on a gentle simmer"

But what if it's an ostrich egg?

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 03:43 AM

Old Hungarian recipe starts "first steal your chicken"
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Will Fly
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 04:07 AM

I use plastic poaching bowls. Like little dishes but rounder.

Butter the bowl inners
Simmer the water
Break eggs into bowls
Float bowls on the water

Presto!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Stanron
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 06:07 AM

I seem to remember Nigella recommending breaking eggs into a tea strainer first. All the thin whispy bits of white, which don't adhere to the rest, pass through the strainer. I can't actually remember what she was making.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 06:56 AM

I got a few wispy bits of white but I reckon that 90% of the white stayed with the yolk. I think that's why the eggs need to be devilishly fresh. One more thing for the users of the various poaching contraptions: all I ended up with, apart from gorgeous eggs with cumulus-like whites, was a pan that needed a light rinsing.

Jim, I thought it was the Yorkshire yolk...oops, JOKE:

How does a Yorkshireman cook eggs?

First he nicks the eggs...

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 07:04 AM

Stealthily wearing camouflage under cover of darkness.....

With me hooks and me nets, and little flashlight
I'm wandering abroad it's a fine poaching night

Ian Woods (Woodsie RIP 2017)

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Raedwulf
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 07:54 AM

First, sneak up on the chicken coop... No, I've never (on infrequent attempts) been able to get them to work either. Since I get eggstremely (yes, I know) fresh eggs from me neighbour, I shall have to have another go! And I shall have a look out for that book as well, Acme.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 09:21 AM

"Jim, I thought it was the Yorkshire yolk...oops, JOKE: "
Nah
The Yorkshireman gets his jokes the same way he gets everything else - he nicks them!
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 09:47 AM

Thanks for that Steve, I am chief poacher in our house and have been using pods with varying success. I shall try your solution tomorrow!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 09:51 AM

On our visits to Andaluc?a (will Mudcat let me do that accent I ask meself...) we always make a point of having a late breakfast at the little bar in the town square of Canj?yar in Almer?a province. Yer man came out to us excitedly one morning insisting that we try his new tapas, huevos sorpresa. The surprise was that the poached egg muffin also contained a fat wodge of black pudding. I had seconds. Well I've just bought meself some Bury black pudding and I'm 'avin' huevos sorpresa for breccy tomorrow!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 09:52 AM

Now the preview had all those accents done correctly. Aargh!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 09:55 AM

I'm not that keen on eggs..

..they taste too eggy...



But fried with sausage bacon and chips... they are then transformed into a sublime delicacy...

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 10:08 AM

put a bit of vinegar in the water. it will stop the white bit going all over the place

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 10:18 AM

Jamie Oliver sez not to do that.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Raggytash
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 10:26 AM

I've never had a problem.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 12:16 PM

I have many problems. Give me money, somebody.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: JHW
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 02:59 PM

I agree with the vinegar but am reminded I've never poached an egg this century

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 07:56 PM

Yes, to Steve's method.
Freshest of eggs.
Deep frying pan. I've never measured the depth of water, I'd have said maybe no MORE than 1½ inches??
Too easy to overdo the vinegar. I use nothing or possibly a few drops of lemon juice if one is handy.
Boil.
Turn it right down, smallest ring.(or off, then back on after adding the eggs)
Add the eggs.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 08:29 PM

Do not use vinegar. Two things: if you use very fresh eggs the vinegar won't do anything that the gently simmering water won't. And I want my eggs to taste purely of eggs. I don't want even the faintest vinegary taste. When you go to the supermarket, reach right to the back to get the eggs with the longest sell-by date. Don't tell me that you must use vinegar until you've tried it without with very fresh eggs. I would never lie to you.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jeri
Date: 25 Nov 17 - 09:43 PM

I know this is really weird, but I agree 100% with Steve. The vinegar doesn't do much for the eggs, and they still tasted just a little bit vinigar-y. I poach, then I do something else with them when they start to break down. They're still good, just not poachable.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 02:10 AM

I'm with Steve and Jeri - no vinegar! But I do stir the water before dropping the egg, as gently as possible, into the pan.

I'm gobsmacked by the idea of using a frying-pan, of all things, to poach eggs! Such an outlandish concept out here in The Backwoods! Barely deep enough, if at all. We have a small saucepan (which we call, believe it or not, 'The Egg-Poaching Pan') which allows for 2-1/2 to 3 inches of water. And the water should be barely simmering, certainly not 'boiling'!

Delia recommends getting the water boiling first, then turning the heat completely off immediately prior to the eggs going in.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: BobL
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 02:48 AM

As to breaking your eggs into cups or whatever, is that really an essential part of the exercise? I can see that it allows you to slide the eggs into the water gently instead of dropping them from a height or risking boiled fingers, but (notwithstanding Steve's comment at 06:56 yesterday) it's another thing to wash up.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Mr Red
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 04:22 AM

could you use a poachers pocket? For

eggs ample or ...........

une eouf already.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 06:13 AM

The trouble with poaching eggs directly in the water, no matter how perfect the result, is that the eggs make your toast soggy. I always use an egg poaching pan with small holders for each egg. Strictly, these are coddled eggs rather than poached but the result satisfies me.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 06:32 AM

Just fish the egg out with a slotted spoon and let it drip for a sec. Delia's method is fine but the thing takes over ten minutes! That's over-egging the pudding. This morning I had an egg poached, a roll toasted and a slice of Bury black pudding fried in butter, all done in seven minutes flat (only three for the egg). I just tipped the hot black pudding butter on to each half of the roll. Delicious. I suppose I could have just fried the roll in the butter, on reflection. I even made coffee at the same time!

Those poaching pans make the egg white go too hard and they are the devil to wash up. You don't know what you're missing! Neither did I!

Mr Red, why does a Frenchman have only one egg for breakfast?

Because to a Frenchman one egg is un oeuf.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 09:10 AM

I have, perhaps, oversimplified the poaching of eggs:
I use the microwave - (Arghhhh!) Yep, I do. I put a small bowl of water in and heat close to boiling, take it out and put two or 3 eggs in, depending on need and using appropriate sized bowl. I poke each egg with the tip of a sharp knife, put a microwave cover over the bowl and heat another 1-2 minutes, until white is firmly done.

More recently, I found a two egg sized tajine in a thrift shop, considering it to be mainly decorative. As I prepped BF one day, I looked at this thing and wondered...
I put butter in the bottom and melted it in micro... Put in two eggs, poked them, placed lid and... WOW! perfect poached eggs, no mucky water.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Raggytash
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 01:26 PM

Try Eggs in the oven. My Grandmother, a wonderful cook, used to liberally grease a saucer with (lots) of butter, crack an egg in it and bake it in the oven. BEAUTIFUL!!!

This was only done on baking days however when the oven was already in use.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 02:44 PM

my mrs likes to go to work on an egg..

..and eggy snacks on the weekend..

For the last couple of years she's relied on this contraption:

http://www.tefal.co.uk/Breakfast/Toasters/Toast-n%27-Bean/p/1500578163


"TEFAL Toast n' Bean
To poach or boil eggs with very little effort in less than 4 minutes.
For those who are rushed in the morning but still like to make time for a hearty breakfast or people who want a quick and tasty lunch or dinner, the new Tefal Toast N Bean creates a nutritional and delicious dish in a flash that will give any day the perfect boost.
Revolutionise meal times with the Toast N Bean, a unique toaster which cooks ½ a tin of baked beans at the same time as it makes tasty toast. Following on from its predecessor the Toast N Egg, Tefal’s new creation also allows food lovers to poach or boil eggs with little very effort in less than 4 minutes. "

Demo videos on youtube..
Usually about £29 from the usual big UK shops [and often cheaper than the smaller and less versatile predecessor]...

Strange coincidence - hers's has packed in after a couple years frequent use, around the time this thread started...???

So, getting her a new one from Argos tomorrow...

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Raedwulf
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 04:37 PM

Oddly enough, when I still ate the sugar-loaded pap that constitutes baked beans, I found I much preferred cold baked beans straight out of the tin. There's something rather nice, with beans on toast, in the contrast between the creaminess of the just melting butter on a hot piece of toast & the cold beans. Plus there's no faffing about trying to time the heating up!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 08:43 PM

I grew up with coddled eggs (the little aluminum dishes that fit in a container with boiling water underneath), with soft-boiled eggs (in their cute little egg cups and the top chipped off) - though as I got older it was mostly scrambled (dry, not runny) or fried (over easy, yokes still soft, preferably a bit runny, whites completely cooked).

What is it about poached eggs that makes this a desirable way to cook them? Is it what you eat them with or how they're served?

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 08:51 PM

Perfect fried eggs:

1. Use only butter. Melt butter over medium heat in a frying pan.

2. When butter starts to bubble (don't let it go brown), turn heat up slightly and add eggs. The fresher the better,

3. Turn heat back down a little.

4. Cover with a lid. Leave severely alone for two and a half to three minutes.

Done. No mucking about, no basting, perfect fried eggs. I got this from Felicity Cloake in the Guardian. Unbelievably successful every time!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 08:56 PM

Poached eggs have a soft, very slightly set yolk, and soft, billowing whites. The whites are perfectly set and have none of that rubberiness you get with those abject little poaching tins that sit in a pan of boiling water. That's the difference.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 26 Nov 17 - 10:06 PM

The vinegar isn't like singing in the tradition. Its not compulsory,, You're not a stinkpot if you don't do it.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jos
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 04:53 AM

The television chefs seem to promote poached eggs because the eggs are not fried - therefore there is none of that fat that the government are so keen for us all to avoid - and they tend to put the poached eggs on top of a healthy salad and make a little hole in the top so that some of the yolk runs out, which looks pretty on the television screen.
They are wasting their time with this ploy because many of us will put the eggs on toast smothered with far more lovely butter than we would have used to fry them.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 05:19 AM

Bacon, egg, sweet chilli sauce sarnie..

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 06:51 AM

I might try that.

Fry your eggs in butter, Jos, and use the hot butter to butter your toast!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 10:52 AM

If you're going to get the taste of vinegar with them, why not just go for pickled eggs?
Always ready in a jar in the cupboard, no preparation required.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jos
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 03:50 PM

Nigel, I looked in my cupboard but jars of pickled eggs are nowhere to be found.
Funny, that.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 04:13 PM

A jar of 6 in your local "Home Bargains" 99p
Probably also available in Poundland and other such stores as well.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Stanron
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 04:14 PM

Aldi sell pickled eggs. I've not compared their price with fresh eggs. I only ever cook eggs after I've cooked sausages and bacon. I put two sausages and two rashers of bacon in a pyrex dish. The pyrex lid died many moons ago so I put a plate on top as a lid. This goes in the microwave for five minutes. There is water in the dish afterwards. I break an egg into this and do 20 seconds microwave, followed by 20 seconds pause. Four or five times of this produces the perfect egg. More powerful microwaves might require different times.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Jeri
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 05:02 PM

I ate a pickled egg once. (They aren't that big in the US.) The farts are remarkable.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 05:34 PM

I can't think of a bigger abomination than a pickled egg. A pickled onion or a pickled wally is a thing of beauty, but why pickle an egg? Eggs are cheap, universally available and easy to cook. I take cold hard-boiled eggs on picnics. I'd rather hack off the family jewels with a rusty machete than eat a pickled egg.

Egg butty for two:

Boil four or five eggs for approx. 7 minutes. Plunge immediately into cold water. Butter four slices of bread. Shell eggs, place in a bowl while still faintly warm with a good squeeze of Hellman's mayo. Beat to not quite a pulp. I like to chop the eggs in the bowl with the blade of a knife. Leave it a bit chunky. Dollop on to bread, spread it out, cover with other slice and devour. Your house will smell of farts for two hours, which means a two-hour window for farting at will, preferably silently.

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 05:38 PM

I can't think of a bigger abomination than a pickled egg....

the royal wedding....?

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 05:40 PM

True, Al. See thread. IF it's still there after what I posted!

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 05:54 PM

I grew up on a west country council estate...
Pickled eggs figured significantly in my culinary cultural heritage

Subject: RE: BS: How to poach an egg
From: ripov
Date: 27 Nov 17 - 06:52 PM

Nigella must buy her eggs from Lidl, if she has to use a riddle !

And while cooking in butter is great, the proper fat for eggs is what used to come out of the bacon in the old days,(and remember, butter was rationed - 2oz = 60g per person per week) before they introduced the white filth that ruins yer frying pan by sticking to teflon.