Poached eggs

Whats the perfect way? Mine are pants :-(

Yeah mine suck too, if you use a pan of water and add vinegar or swirl the water or what ever the egg has to be really fresh, never seems to work for me regardless of this, get a hob based poacher or a plastic thing you float in water makes it easy, don't use your microwave as this way of cooking is really bad for you.

Have you tried the clingfilm method (bottom of this page)?
 
I've tried just about every other method and none of them come close to this. If you do it right you can get away without too much mess to clean up too.
 
I don't know if it's down to the brand of clingfilm you use, but I have sometimes found the eggs a bit sticky to get out when poached. You can get around this by buying an oil sprayer and spraying a little oil onto the clingfilm before adding the egg.
 
I also like it because generally you know the egg is done to perfection when you see the yolk haze over through the clingfilm.

Have a hob based poacher - seems to work fine!

I litterly just boil a frying pan full of water and chuck the bad boys in! bit of a mess but the yolk is always soft

Do not buy an egg poacher!
 
Boil a pan of water
add a dash of vinegar, not too much
Crack the eggs into individual ramakins or small bowls
Once it's boiled, turn it down to low so it's simmering
Gently add the eggs
simmer for however long until you've got the desired consistency you're looking for
take out with a spoon and set on kitchen paper, if it's too spongey put back in...
 
practice makes perfect...
I used to have them every morning, and they were perfectly soft everytime!
 

I've just managed this after many failed attempts.  Similar to the method above.
 
I add a touch of vinegar, I don't swirl the water because I understand thats only good for 1 egg at a time and I cook 2 or 3.  I crack the eggs into a little cup beforehand.  That way they can drop into the water in one fluid motion.  I then simmer for 4 minutes.

Don't get me wrong, there's the odd bit of messy white floating about the pan, but it's the best I've ever managed.

I've got a Tefal Toast 'n' Egg toaster, hassle free, no mess, decent poached eggs every time.
You can also use it to boil 4 eggs at a time.

I just make sure the water is bubbling before I put the eggs in. Normally use a spoon to scoop hot water over the top of the eggs so they cook on top. Just before they're done I flip them over for about 30 seconds so they don't go 'jelly like'  Just this second eaten 3 of them, they were lovely.

The Truth


Yeah mine suck too, if you use a pan of water and add vinegar or swirl the water or what ever the egg has to be really fresh, never seems to work for me regardless of this, get a hob based poacher or a plastic thing you float in water makes it easy, don't use your microwave as this way of cooking is really bad for you.

 
Why is cooking eggs in a microwave bad for you?

As for cooking a good poached egg, I always follow Delia's method.
 
http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/eggs/how-to-poach-an-egg.html

I have a microwave egg poacher, they dont taste as good but if your in a rush its easy way of doing it. 
 
cant say its ever done me any harm!! dont get why using the microwave is bad??

Drop the egg in the water for 10 seconds BEFORE you crack it, take it out, it shouldn't be hot enough that you can't handle it, the crack it into the water. This pre-boil in the shell binds the very liquid albumin around the egg that causes poached eggs to go stringy and fall to bits.

Before i stopped eating bread, I would crack the egg into simmering water, put toast in and turn off the pan. By the time the toast pops the egg is Perfectly cooked and gooey in the middle.

I've recently switched to Heston's method and it's by faaaar the best I've used up to now.
 
No need for vinager or swirly water - none of that.
 
you need a deep decent sized pan with about 20cm of water in it, bring it up to a medium high heat, about 75 - 80*C so it helps if you have a thermometer.
 
It works best when the eggs are relatively fresh, crack your egg into a sieve over a bowl or pan and leave for about 30 secs, some of the egg white will fall through the sieve but it's supposed to this will prevent any stringy bits coming off of your egg, the majority of the white will stay with the yolk, tip the egg into a ladle or small cup and from there add it to the water, let it cook for 4 mins and voila a perfect poached egg.
 
Heston recommends putting an upside down plate at the bottom of the pan so that the egg is not in direct contact with the heat source but I never bother cos i found it caused me more problems when trying to fish the eggs out

Put the egg into a ladel or large spoon and lower into boiling water

I have a sure fire way to make poached eggs works every time:
 
Boiling water into a frying pan and get the water bubbling, you will need to buy some of these http://direct.tesco.com/product/images/?R=207-8543 place the cutter into the hot water and crack the egg into the cutter.(watch you dont burn you hand like i do )
 
Get you egg flipper and place under the cutter and move a bit so the egg doesnt stick to the pan, once the white is setting remove the cutter and boil the egg for as long as you want to, ages for hard or 1 to 2 mins for soft.
 
Take out of the pan using a spoon and place on paper towel to get rid of excess water.  Good luck
 
 

dave_bear


I've recently switched to Heston's method and it's by faaaar the best I've used up to now.

No need for vinager or swirly water - none of that.

you need a deep decent sized pan with about 20cm of water in it, bring it up to a medium high heat, about 75 - 80*C so it helps if you have a thermometer.

It works best when the eggs are relatively fresh, crack your egg into a sieve over a bowl or pan and leave for about 30 secs, some of the egg white will fall through the sieve but it's supposed to this will prevent any stringy bits coming off of your egg, the majority of the white will stay with the yolk, tip the egg into a ladle or small cup and from there add it to the water, let it cook for 4 mins and voila a perfect poached egg.

Heston recommends putting an upside down plate at the bottom of the pan so that the egg is not in direct contact with the heat source but I never bother cos i found it caused me more problems when trying to fish the eggs out

tired this worked a treat - doing it this way now on.

Slightly oil a few small bowls, crack eggs into the bowls, place in electric steamer 8-10 mins = perfect poached eggs.

O and you can also cook off any Veg you may be eating that day at the same time.

fill a cup about a third full of water - whack in an egg - stick in microwave for 60 seconds - fish it out - eat it. How ****ing difficult do some of you want to make this!!!