[Closed] Bona fide killer egg poaching tip

Your first mistake is putting eggs in the fridge. You're not American, stop that.

This seems to be one of the most inconstantly answered questions on the internet! Eggs in fridges definitely last longer; but they degrade faster in the cold; but they might take on tastes from other stuff in the fridge; that they need to remain a constant temperature so the fridge is the best place in the home; but you can't smell if they are off if they are cold; that they are only stored at room temp in the store as they would get condensation on the shell on the way home and as its porous thats a great way for it to take in bacteria.....and on and on....

You're overlooking one important factor. This is STW, therefore I'm right and everyone else is wrong. (-:

The whole thing of putting eggs in the fridge is because the US treat eggs differently. By law in the US eggs have to be sold washed which potentially damages the shell and increases the risk of salmonella infection, in the UK the opposite is true and eggs [i]cannot[/i] be sold washed, we mitigate the risk of salmonella by inoculating our hens. This is where the contradictory advice comes from.

If you put eggs in the fridge, as you say, you risk contamination from other strong flavours like smoked cheese, cut onions etc. It's not necessary.

^^^^ egg school day which is good. Still staying in the fridge though.
I've a Lakeland microwave poacher thing which a mate recommended. Tried it and went straight back to the pan method. Pretoast the toast to ensure it's ready when the eggs are.

Ah, got it. This is an interesting read.

http://www.businessinsider.com/should-you-refrigerate-eggs-2014-7

Pretoast the toast to ensure it's ready when the eggs are.

Marmite? With something as delicately wonderful as a poached egg? No thanks.

OP, it worked for me fine, a good tip if you want to do multiple eggs. I did pop a small amount of vinegar in and my eggs were about, hmmm 3 or 4 hours old

Marmite? With something as delicately wonderful as a poached egg? No thanks.

A poached egg? With something as delicately wonderful as Marmite? No thanks.

With my method on the other page there's no water ,no mess and you get all the egg.
Most importantly you can easily do it at work.
It means that you can easily do Parma ham, dark green leaf with a poached egg on top for lunch. Total joy.

Eggs boiled in a kettle, now yer talking....

With my method on the other page there's no water ,no mess and you get all the egg.
Most importantly you can easily do it at work.
It means that you can easily do Parma ham, dark green leaf with a poached egg on top for lunch. Total joy.

You clearly don't understand what poaching is.

We eat loads of eggs as we've our own hens and ducks. We just use the saucepan method, no problems. Again as a few have said, use the freshest eggs. The older ones come apart a bit but still taste great.
I really can't understand all the fannying about? with eggs.

I just ate poached eggs done the old school way, frying ban, water off boil, i love them. Anyway, i keep eggs in the fridge as my catering tutor told me the bacteria on the shell surface can pass through the shell at room temps.

Maybe false but she was a good chef so i believed her.

I used to work at an egg wholesaler and they weren't refrigerated there.

Fresh eggs get poached in the pan, not so fresh get boiled in the shell for 6 mins, then stop cooking by putting in cold water, shell and there you have it, cooked but soft eggs, they aren't poached but are a million times better than those plastic poacher travesties.

I guess this is something that comes naturally because I've never had to rely on bespoke pans, vinegar or cling film.

My own tip, if you've got to knock up a load of them for the family, I use the wok, half full of water to stop them moving about too much.

Incidentally,

Why are you all using frying pans? That seems suboptimal to me, you're using a pan a foot across to cook something the size of, erm, an egg. What's the thinking here?

I'm not cooking one, two to four generally and I want them separate.

They are eggs, they come in a ready made cooking vessel called a shell. Just fing boil the egg

another success, same method as before topped with black pepper, chopped chillis and feta cheese.

[img] [/img]

I'm not interested in taking credit for it because it wasn't my tip originally but in the interests of clarity perhaps Sadexpunk can tell us which method he actually used as his example technique on the other page reads remarkably similar to the one I posted..

FWIW i tried OPs 'dipping in boiling water' method before but when cracking the eggs, a thin lining of egg was sticking to the shell, so wasted egg. admittedly not much, but with teasels 'tap water' method this isnt happening.

theyre turning out so well theyre overtaking scrambled eggs as my favourite now.

teasel wins

Despite sadexpunk's confusion I think a consensus is developing that I am [i]spectacularly[/i] correct.

Edit: I don't get the frying pan thing either. Remain to be convinced about the fridge also.

No probs, man. Like I wrote, it's another forum user's words I used. I was an advocate of the clingfilm method until I tried the frying pan idea.

What's the thinking here?

Lots of eggs in one sitting.

*belches*

They are eggs, they come in a ready made cooking vessel called a shell. Just fing boil the egg

You should write a book.
[b]Egg Cuisine by edhornby[/b]

Boiled Egg:
[img] [/img]

Poached Egg:
[img] [/img]

Fried Egg:
[img] [/img]

Scrambled Egg:
[img] [/img]

Omelette:
[img] [/img]

Quiche:
[img] [/img]

Meringue:
[img] [/img]

A poached egg? With something as delicately wonderful as Marmite? No thanks.

[IMG] [/IMG]

So much marmite, mmm...

Got to say thanks for this tip, it went down exactly as described and earned me brownie points, - ta.

[i]Strictly speaking[/i] eggs cooked in any of those pod gadgets are [i]coddled[/i], not [i]poached[/i]. Just saying.

Thanks op..used this method the other day and worked a treat

I tried (for the 1st time in my 60 years) this morning... boiling some water in a smallish saucepan, (in the meantime breaking 2 eggs into a cup) took the pan off the boil & swirling the water then pouring the eggs in & putting the pan back on for a few minutes. No vinegar.

Spot On!
Had them on toast with Pate

(& for the record they were free range (£1.50 a dozen) & straight out of the chiller)

Eager to try the op idea. Though I have good results with cracking the eggs into an espresso cup or small mug and pouring it in to the water slightly submerged.

ive been poaching my eggs most days now using the 'hot water out of the tap into a saucepan til the kettle boils' method and this works great every time. for me, this method gives you better versatility over the OP method as the waters probably not quite as hot, and so you can leave eggs in longer before cracking into the pan.

when using OP method i found if you left them in too long (even by 10 seconds or so) they started to solidify in the shells, this way they never do.

just tried this again and it does work a treat. i left the eggs in the water longer this time, 15 seconds for eggs fresh from the fridge. 4 perfect poachies!

Glad to say that the hot water in shell/shallow pan/cider vinegar/not actually boiling/ make a gentle whirlpool technique made a perfect poached egg for my lunch - way better than the cling film ones you get at the pub.

Using my hot tap to fill the pan then onto the stove set at no 11 (No vinegar of any description), my eggs poach straight in the pan in exactly the same time it takes my bread to toast, and during that time ive aeropressed my coffee.

Life doesnt get much better than having this element of timing in it.

agree with the hot tap method. the 15 seconds exactly doesnt leave much room for error, ive had a fair bit of egg white solidifying on the inside of the shell before. whereas, i can leave the eggs in hot tap water without timing, just leave em in whilst kettles boiling and toast is er...toasting, then crack em when ready, no white wastage, its all good.

not dissing the 15 secs in boiling water, itll work the same, its just you got to be sooo exact for a good result.

I wish this thread would die. Every time I see it I have to make poached eggs!

[img] [/img]

Some of the food photos in this thread look like those unappetising photos you see in cheap cafes...

All a bit of hard work if you ask me. I prefer: "two poached eggs on toast and a double espresso please".

I had poached eggs this morning.

Saw Simon Rimmer talking about this, dead simple. Use fresh eggs. The fresher the eggs the less they break down into the water. Works 100%

Some of the food photos in this thread look like those unappetising photos you see in cheap cafes...

It's actually pretty hard to take appealing food photos. When they do it for adverts etc they put ludicrous amounts of effort into it.

Saw Simon Rimmer talking about this, dead simple. Use fresh eggs. The fresher the eggs the less they break down into the water. Works 100%

Works 100% if you can get consistently fresh eggs. Unless you've got your own hen good luck with that. My tip eliminates the need for it though really.

There's little to no mention of poaching TIME. Plenty of de-chilling times mentioned but not the time betwixt unleashing into the water and collecting for your plate.

I find breaking the eggs into a saucer rather than straight into the pan makes a big difference.

There's little to no mention of poaching TIME. Plenty of de-chilling times mentioned but not the time betwixt unleashing into the water and collecting for your plate.

I put the eggs into simmering water, pop lid on, turn off heat and take them out 3 minutes later.

I lift em up with a slotted spoon and prod the yolks (gently of course) with my finger to see how firm it is. Works for me.

i usually give the pan a bit of a wobble, you can usually tell whether theyre ready or not, same when i take em out, bit of a wobble on the spoon, make sure theres no snot left. works for me, always pretty much perfect now thanks to this thread.

CPR bump...

I tried various ways and the one I quoted is most definitely easiest. Personal taste aside, the best base is by far this...

simondbarnes » Toast? Surely it has to be steak

I'm a fan of Marmite and was eager to try Grum's suggestion but that is just awful. I mean really ****ing awful. Jarring, even.

The most surprising complimentary taste combo was a total accident - dried dates. Don't ask my how or why, it just happened and it has to be tried before being dismissed.

My apologies for the revival if, like me, you've eaten far too many eggs off the back of this thread and are sick to death of them.

CPR bump...

CPR? Christ these poached eggs really are killers.