I can’t tell you how many of my friends are actually intimidated by poaching eggs,
but it doesn’t need to be scary.
And I am here to make you feel comfortable poaching the perfect egg.
It starts right here in a shallow pan that has water in it.
We need at least one and a half to two inches of water.
We’ve got it at a boil, but now I’m going to turn it down because you don’t want to
boil when you’re poaching eggs because that would break the egg up.
We’re turning it down to a medium, medium- low.
We want the water to be simmering which means a bubble maybe every once in awhile, but very
gentle, calm waters.
Let’s see that simmer for about a minute to know that you’re actually at a constant
holding temperature.
Now the best eggs to poach are the freshest eggs.
When you’re boiling eggs, it actually is better if they are a week or two older, but
with poached eggs, you want the egg that has the firmest white.
I’m going to take an egg.
I’m going to actually strain it through a strainer.
If this egg is older, that egg white that’s loose will fall through the strainer and I’ll
be left with the firm white and yolk that I can transfer to my little bowl.
So you see some of that white actually did go through the strainer.
Now I’m left with the freshest part of the egg, not the egg that has loosened.
I put the eggs into little dishes like this because it makes it easier to transfer that
to the hot water.
Now if you see here, that water is barely moving.
There’s a little bit of bubble action on the bottom, but otherwise, it’s a calm,
calm surface.
Now you’ll find a lot of people will do these swirling vortex methods so that they
put the egg right into the center of that swirling water which holds all the whites
together.
But you can’t do that if you’re doing more than one egg, and chances are, you’re
gonna poach a few eggs.
So, in goes the egg very gently.
I’m going to lower that into the water, even submerging the little ramekin.
In goes one.
In goes the other.
And now don’t fret about too much of the egg white spinning around outside of the egg
because you’re going to be able to clean that off later.
This is a no stress experience.
Poaching an egg only takes about three minutes.
We’ve timed these eggs.
They’re ready to come out and they look beautiful.
So, I’m going to use a slotted spoon.
I’m going to take this egg out of the water and drain off as much of the water as I can.
And here’s something that really is a pet peeve of mine, is a wet egg.
So, roll it onto a clean towel just to take off any of those droplets of water and let’s
test to see if it’s done.
The white looks done everywhere and that yolk is still super soft and beautiful.
Now, if you want your poached egg poached hard, you’re going to leave it in the water
another for another two minutes or so, but if you want that egg yolk nice and runny,
three minutes will be perfect.
I’m going to plate this egg not on toast, but on a salad, say perhaps for dinner some
time.
Salad is dressed nicely.
I’m gonna just gently place that egg on the salad.
Look how pretty that looks.
How about a little freshly ground black pepper?
I always like a little fresh herb to go with it.
Some chives.
And then let’s just slice that open just a little bit so you can see that beautiful
egg yolk that’s going to run into your salad creating a vinaigrette all of its own.
That’s is going to be a delicious dinner and a beautifully poached egg, but we haven’t
forgotten about our other poached egg in here too.
And what I want to tell you about this egg here is that this egg has more of those whispery
whites.
Just trim them off with the spoon you’re removing the egg with.
You can even cut it against the side of the pan.
And now here is a mind-blowing tip.
You can do this ahead of time and pop this egg into an ice water bath.
That’s just cold water with some ice cubes in it.
You can do a lot of eggs this way and save them in your refrigerator for up to a day.
So if you were having a brunch party and everybody needed poached eggs, do them the day beforehand.
Put them in here.
When you go to serve, just simply put them into the hot water for thirty seconds to a
minute and then go ahead and plate everything at one time.
Thanks for watching.
If you’d like to see more of The Basics, click over here.
If you’d like to learn more about the pan I used to poach eggs, click over here.
And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for more Basics, leave them in
the comments below.