I have tried and tried and tried again to do the swirling into water thing and after having a success rate of about 1 in 10, I have given up so can anyone recommend a decent egg poacher – I have seen loads of options ranging from a couple of quid to £10+. Don’t want anything fancy, happy to microwave or do it in water. I just want something simple and cheap.

Ta

I use the silicon Poach Pods, not quite the same thing but not terrible.
Have you tried a drip or two of vinegar in your water when using a pan? It does help and you need a minute amount to be effective without ruining the taste. Also wouldn’t go down the swirling route, otherwise how do you do more than one egg! Deep wide frying pan, gentle simmer, crack egg into a ramekin and tip into the water at the pan’s edge.
Or just buy the poach pods, 4 and a half minutes and you’re golden (don’t forget to put the lid on the pan!)

These work really well.

Yep, them’s the puppies…..

Adding vinegar is a waste of time in my experience.

Stop wasting your time and just buy and egg Poaching Pan for 10 quid from sainsburys and have perfect poached eggs.

*available in store as that is where we got ours. Does what it says on the pan.

cling film eggs!

Them silicon things are pants in comparison

Have you tried a drip or two of vinegar in your water when using a pan

Yup – always do that.

I find those poaching pans a bit rubbish. And who wants a dish shaped egg?? Not right!

The key for poached eggs IME is fresh eggs. The fresher they are, the less the white spreads. My technique is boiling salted water, swirl, drop fresh egg in the middle of the swirl, drop 2 in there if you wish, 2 minutes, check, likely need another 30 secs, done.

Sometimes they don’t look perfect but they taste great and that’s all that matters.

Use the clingfilm method. Nails it every time since I read about it on b3ta.

Jedi level poacher here (it’s really easy once you ‘get’ it; just like riding a, um, something)

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/ive-mastered-it

Mary Berry says – place very fresh eggs into a pan of simmering water. Drop them from a cup or similar.
Use a slotted spoon to gently bring the whites into the centre around the yolk.

Mine always burst when I use the slotted spoon to get them out of the pan and onto the toast 🙁

Also you don’t need vinegar.

I use the Poach pod silicon jobbies and they’re great, IMHO.

Warm them in the boiling water and melt a small knob of butter in the bottom before you put the egg in.

I always boil the eggs in their shells for about 20 seconds in very hot water, take them out, then turn down the heat and poach them as normal (crack them into hot water, nothing more). The pre-boiling gives them a slight outer skin which keeps them together during the poaching (it looks like they’ve gone everywhere when you first put them in, but they come together after a minute or so). Plus you can do as many at a time as you want.

Just break your egg into a little cup and gently lower it into your water, turn heat right down then pop lid on and wait a couple of minutes.

If you want steamed eggs they are fine – for poaching a capful of vinegar (adjust as needed so you cant taste it ) and a very gentle swirl is all you need.

Eggs freshly out the chicken bum also help

OP we had a thread before. The number 1 thing is really fresh eggs, they hold together much much better. Raymond Blanc did a demo on TV once. A little white vinegar is the water which should be very lightly simmering. The other trick we saw on a cookery course was actually to soak the eggs in vinegar and water solution for a while (in their shells, the sheels are slightly porous) and also to have a good slotted spoon to remove them to a plate and use scissors to cut off the messy bits. The chef used no swirling nomsense (I had tried that too)

Edit. I see Andy says same also @catfood egg to cup to water helps keep it together as it slides in gently

My eggs come with these amazing little poaching cases, I believe they’re called shells?

I nearly caught an egg poacher last night, 3am heard a noise from the kitchen so crept down but he shot past me and got out through the cat flap the cunning bastard.

Fresh eggs stay together better. Swirling makes them worse. Vinegar doesn’t make a difference. I like putting them into a cup first, then pour them into boiling water. Be confident when you pour them in! You’re probably over thinking it all, just get stuck in and don’t be put off if you see some egg white floating about in the water- it spreads out and looks worse than it is, 95% of your egg will still be intact.

I do what Padkinson does…essential if you keep eggs in the fridge. Briefly boil the egg before breaking into the water, you can then drop it in the water quite roughly and it will stay in one lump. Years of heartache with frothy eggs until I started pre-boiling them.

And turn the heat off…not needed once its simmering.

No vinegar no swirling no clingfilm no cheaty egg poacher steamer. Just crack eggs (preferably fresh) into a cup then tip into a pan of simmering water.

I can do 4 in one pan no bother – it used to drive me nuts but once you get the knack it’s really easy.

I always crack my eggs into a ramekin and then add them to gently boiling water. About a minute or so usually does the job then serve with toast, salt, pepper and greek oregano from my girlfriends gran 😉

andyfla – Member

Eggs freshly out the chicken bum also help

squeeze the chicken over the pan?

My method tends to be successful.
Really fresh eggs. Laid that morning if possible.
Eggs at room temperature.
Crack eggs into a cup.
Boil water.
Take pan off heat.
Let water settle.
Gently slip eggs into water from cup.
Return pan to heat.
Simmer gently until cooked.

This seriouseats post and video says it has the perfect method.

I understand you can create poached eggs with low temp cooking. Not sure if have the patience.

What’s so hard about boiling water in a pan method?

Boil water in pan
Add vinegar if you want
Turn it down a bit so it stops bubbling violently and simmers instead
Swirl with a spoon to get a bit a vortex the middle
Crack egg,
Drop egg gently into the middle of the vortex

Cook to perfection.

I can’t believe none of the pendants on here have pointed it out yet, but neither those pans with the little dishes in them nor the cling film method result in poached eggs – they make coddled eggs. The egg white needs direct contact with water for proper poaching…

Spend your £10 on several dozen eggs instead of some plastic tat and take an hour to learn to do it properly using some of the methods listed above. Find one that works for you. Don’t be lazy, cheat or rely on having a special tool. Poached egg as a reward.

have just tried the “preboiling” method. It kind of works, but there was a 1mm coating of cooked white stuck to the inside of the egg.

I still favour “coddling” in a poaching pan for consistency and simplicity.

Am I the only one that picks all the dodgy bits out before cooking? Inc the 2 umbilical type things and any of the occasional gross brown bits?

“chappit egg” or egg in a cup is where it’s at. Boiled egg or two in a cup with loads butter and some salt all mashed up.

I don’t bother with the swirling/vortex method as it’s no good for more than 2 eggs.

Use a large-based, shallow pan & fill with water high enough to cover eggs.
Bring to the boil, adding a couple of drips of vinegar.
If possible, in the interest of speed, pre-crack your eggs into ramekin dishes.
Take pan off the heat, gently place the eggs in the water.
Cover the pan, time 5 minutes, remove eggs.

*Love* STW. Is there nothing this forum can’t solve?

anyhow – I got bought a box of these (Poachies

cheap, foolproof, recyclable plus one less pan.

my 2p worth deployed 🙂

TM

This isn’t the classiest way to do it, but it works every morning when eggs aren’t super fresh and want to avoid hassle of messy poached eggs.

Boil water in pan.
Take pan off heat.
Crack eggs gently into water.
Put the pan back on hob, low heat till done. No aggressive boiling to break the whites.

Fresh eggs always work best, especially if you are going to use the stylish swirly water technique.

Really fresh eggs. Laid that morning if possible.
Eggs at room temperature.
Crack eggs into a cup.
Boil water.
Take pan off heat.
Let water settle.
Gently slip eggs into water from cup.
Return pan to heat.
Simmer gently until cooked.

That’s pretty much how I do it. Swirling the eggs and cooking them on a rolling boil just makes them break up. The egg sets at (IIRC) around 85 degrees, so they will cook perfectly well off the heat, you don’t even need to simmer.

A top tip from Heston Blumenwhatsit. If your eggs aren’t perfectly fresh, crack them onto a slotted spoon and allow the watery stuff to drain off before cooking.

As it happens I did this for the 1st time on Saturday.
viniger and vortex method, 4 eggs in 1 pan.

bloody aced* it I tells ya.

*okay maybe slightly over cooked but wife is uber picky about undercooked stuff so i tend to be overly cautious 🙁

This isn’t the classiest way to do it, but it works every morning when eggs aren’t super fresh and want to avoid hassle of messy poached eggs.

Nothing wrong with that – it’s a lot classier than all the cheats up there! ^^^^^^^

It’s worth noting too that Marcus Wareing on Masterchef recommended trimming your poached eggs with a knife after cooking (not that I bother, and his didn’t look that amazing even after trimming!).

boil water.

turn gas off (or down very low)

add FRESH eggs.

wait 3 mins for (gooey) eggy perfection.

how are people getting this wrong?

how are people getting this wrong?

Mainly by having the water too hot/boiling I suspect.