Wow. There's a lot of advise out there on how to poach an egg, much of it controversial. Some add vinegar, some don't. Some swirl the water, some don't. Some insist on 2-to-4-day old eggs and others say that's a bunch of hooey. And the plastic wrap debates go on for pages. Not to mention the silicone cups and egg poaching machines (unitaskers!)
But there was one method that caught my eye because it involved turning off the flame and letting the egg gently poach for 10 minutes in the residual heat. I liked this method because it allows for some hands-off time to get my accompaniments (toast, asparagus, etc.) ready and waiting. So I gave it a try.
The instructions I used came from an unusual place: Delia Smith's Complete How to Cook page on the UK Amazon site. In her short slide show, Delia recommends pouring hot water from a kettle into a large, shallow pan and heating it until little bubbles start to form. Then break the eggs one by one into the water and let them barely simmer for exactly one minute. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for another 10 minutes.
I tried this and the eggs were quite good: the whites were set, the yolk was pleasingly runny. But they had cooled down a little too much during their 10 minute soak. So I experimented by covering the pan after one minute and reducing the sitting time from 10 to 6 minutes. Perfect.
I also had incorporated advise to crack the eggs into individual cups ahead of time and gently lower them into the water. This helped to prevent the whites from scattering and avoided the mess of adding a broken yolk, not to mention it helped me to get the eggs in the water in a quick succession.
Finally, even though I was very satisfied with my 6 minute egg, I wanted to try using a splash of vinegar in the water because it's so highly thought of as an egg white coagulator. After giving it a try, I found this to be totally unnecessary. My egg white wasn't any more coagulated than when I didn't use the vinegar, which created a strange thin skin-like texture that I found unpleasant. So here's my take on:
Delia's Perfect Poached Eggs, for 4 eggs:
Place a large skillet over medium heat and fill it with hot water from a kettle, at least 1 inch deep. Crack four eggs into individual cups. When little bubbles start to form in the skillet, gently lower the eggs into the water. Let the skillet sit on the flame for one minute. Use a timer because it's hard to really know how long one minute is. Then turn off the heat and cover the skillet and set your timer to 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, put a folded paper or kitchen towel on a plate and have a perforated spoon handy. Get your toast and other accompaniments ready. Remove the lid, scoop up an egg and rest the spoon on the kitchen towel for a few seconds to drain the water. Repeat with remaining eggs.
I used to make my poached eggs this way, until a round of phenomenal brunches and perfectly poached eggs inspired me to give the deeper water poached egg a try.
I use vinegar (could be useless, but I've never tried without) and the swirl method and I use the little cups to slowly drop the eggs in. Almost perfect. I swear by it now, really easy once you get the hang of it.
view kittyball's profile
Not entirely sure why this poses such a problem. Here's my foolproof method--works every time, and is transferable to duck eggs (but not quail, for obvious reasons): Fill a medium sauce pan 3/4 with water. Bring to a rolling simmer. Add 2 tablespoons white vinegar. (Kittyball, it's a necessity: the vinegar firms the egg white as it poaches.)
Break 4 room temperature eggs into 4 separate ramekins. Carefully slip them into the water, keeping an eye on the first one that goes in. Using the dowel end of a wooden spoon, gently flop the white over the yolk on each. Do this quickly. Cover. Remove from heat, and let sit for 3 minutes (begin timing the minute they go into the water).
Remove with a slotted spoon, drain off any liquid (or they'll keep cooking). Either plunge into cold water and chill down to hold the eggs for later, or serve immediately. Perfect every time.
view Elissa at Poor Man's Feast's profile
Unfortunately I am stuck with an electric stove, but agree with kittyball. I've been poaching many eggs lately to serve on top of warm (or cold) lentil salad. Vinegar does seem to help a bit--the eggs were more ragged the time I forgot to use it.
view Rivercat0338's profile
LOL!
I was going to say that this is MY method, which I learned from Delia... !
This is also how I boil my eggs, both soft and hard (but not too hard -- just so that they are squidgy in the centre, like Delia teaches).
Err, how did you happen to come across Delia, btw? Did it have anything to do with my link on scrambled eggs?
view mschatelaine's profile
Just a note about the perfect eggs to poach -- the best poaching eggs are the very freshest eggs you can get -- likely the ones from the farmer's market. The whites of very fresh eggs are quite thick, and so do not get so runny when poached.
view mschatelaine's profile
I know chefs always say soft yolk for poached eggs but this makes me gag. I like the yolk properly cooked, not hard. I do use vinegar and swirl the water.
view hrhprincessfiona's profile
Ms Chatelaine:
My mum and I used to watch Delia on PBS back in the 80's. I can't remember much about the show except that I really enjoyed it, so I always keep a look out for her. I stumbled on this recipe because I also love browsing the British cookbooks over at Amazon.uk.
Please share your scrambled eggs link again!
view Dana V's profile
I saw Delia's "How to Cook" series on TVO in the late'90s or early '00s. I'm always bringing up her technique on how to scramble eggs -- they are amazing -- softly scrambled, .
http://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school/how-to/how-to-scramble-eggs,9,AR.html
Her website has a "cooking school" which I find very useful. Her jacket potatoes are truly the best baked potatoes ever, and her techniques for boiling eggs are flawless. It's a great book and a great series.
http://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school/how-to/
view mschatelaine's profile
Like kittyball, I swear by this method. Once I started using the vinegar swirl way, the little white ragged bits stopped, and my poached eggs look food photography ready. I do,however, swear by Delia's method for soft-boiled eggs, although I cook mine a little bit longer than she says because American eggs tend to run larger than English ones. The last time I lived in England, I picked up her complete cookery course book, which is a wonderful resource.
view TheExperimentalGourmand's profile
...transferable to duck eggs (but not quail, for obvious reasons)
So in your mind, the ins and outs of cooking quail eggs is common knowledge?
Sheesh, in your list of necessary ingredients, you forgot pretentiousness.
view akay's profile
I think what she meant, by obvious reasons, is that quail eggs are too small to poach. And they are not by any means a pretentious ingredient. They are really tasty, actually just simply boiled and eaten.
Your comment was kinda snotty.
view polydactylcat's profile