Not having the greatest success with poaching eggs, so looking for inspiration.

I heat the water to almost boiling add a splash of vinegar, and stir the water clockwise.

Crack the egg, and add to the water, usually 3 minutes in the water.

Egg has a lot of feathering with the white and looks a bit of a mess.

Add to a generous piece of toast, pepper and gone in about 30 seconds.

Help me improve.

Stop pissing about and get a microwave egg poacher.

Less than two quid from B&M.

Perfect poached eggs in two minutes.

It’s a game changer

Break an egg into a soup bowl, pierce yolk and cook on medium for 50-60 seconds.

No water ,no mess.

Very deep pan half filled, bring to boil and leave boiling, no stirring. Crack egg in a glass and pour in. Then let it jump up and down in the deep water for 3 mins.

Use fresh eggs.

Heat 1″ of water in frying pan to boiling

turn down heat to take the edge of boiling – ie no big bubbles.

Do not stir water / do not add vinegar.

Crack your eggs in

fish them out a few mins later

Scoff on toast with avocado, beetroot & black pepper.

Got a cheap microwave poacher not the same, doesn’t really do what it says on the tin.

Shallow water, just off the boil, VERY fresh eggs, use a slotted spoon to lift out and drain, place on hot buttered granary toast, never had any problems.

The microwave methods above are coddled, not poached eggs.

For poached, break the egg into a fine sieve and allow the watery white to drain off. Then poach in water just taken off the boil. No vinegar, no stirring, no white mess.

If your eggs are perfectly fresh then you don’t need to drain the white off.

Boil some water, add some vinegar, place in a bowl, stir, crack your egg into it and then microwave for a minuteish.

Eggs are my nemesis.

I’ve always loved cooking and could rustle you up pretty much anything. As long as it doesn’t involve eggs

Then Mrs Binners came back with one of these devices

Oh how I laughed and mocked at the no doubt useless kitchen implement that would certainly be languishing in the corner of a cupboard, unloved and unused until it was sent to a charity shop.

Well… how wrong was I? It’s absolutely bloody brilliant, and gets used all the time by both of us. It does poached or boiled eggs, exactly how you like them, to perfection, in minutes with no fannying about. How frightfully embarrassing

As above, the key is fresh eggs. Older they are the messier they get. My advice would be:

– Buy chickens, wait for egg

– Discard live chicken. Reserve in garden for eggs

– big pan, bring about 2″ water

– turn down until bubbles only just breaking the surface

– Crack egg directly into water, no more than 2 for a 12″ pan as it lowers the temp too much

– Cook for 2m45s

– Remove with slotted spoon, drain briefly on tea towel

Source: having ex battery hens. More bloody eggs than you and the neighbourhood can use leads to a lot of poaching experiments.

Bsims has it.

No vinegar

No stirring

Deep enough to fliat not fry on the bottom.

Fresh eggs if you crack them and there is a complete lack of pert round white its a waste of time. The watery bits will seperate easy enough if the majority of the white is good.

Then either add ham and holandaise or…

Granary,  butter and marmite

The trick is it put the whole egg into the water for 20 seconds before you crack it.  Take out and then crack it in.  The immersion in its shell starts the white off cooking so when you crack it into the water it holds its shape much better…

Supermarket eggs generally are not fresh enough for good poached eggs.

You don’t need any tricks or a timer with fresh eggs. I often do 6 in a pan.  You can tell when you scoop em up if they are cooked right.

Supermarket eggs for frying or scrambled.

Incompetent egg poacher here. These work a treat https://www.lakeland.co.uk/12116/Poachpod-Silicone-Egg-Poaching-Pods—Pack-of-2

I can do poached eggs ‘properly’ but generally use the Jamie method. Line a cup/ramakin/small bowl with cling film. Crack fresh egg into cling film. Draw up and twist top of cling film into little eggy bag. Drop into barely bubbling water for 4 1/2 minutes or so.

Oooh the annual poached egg debate. I still can’t cook them.

place eggs in some warm water, still in shell

shallow pan of boiling water, cracked warmed eggs into pan.

2 minutes, remove with slotted spoon.

warming the eggs 1st makes them a bit more gelatinous. hence them stay together when cracked into water.

Supermarket eggs generally are not fresh enough for good poached eggs.

They’re fine if you drain off the watery white before poaching. But I agree, eggs straight from the hen are the best.

I use the Bill Grainger method and have passed it on to many over the years.

Scruff above describes a very similar method.

Break the eggs into a non stick frying pan with 1 to 2 inches of just boiling water in. I do add a splash of white wine vinegar.

As the water comes back to the boil the eggs will  naturally come away from the bottom of the pan with the bubbles. You can help them along with a fish slice.

Baste the tops with some water as they cook if necessary.

Cooking time is usually exactly the same as it takes for the toast to cook and have a bit of butter applied to it.

The trick is it put the whole egg into the water for 20 seconds before you crack it.  Take out and then crack it in.  The immersion in its shell starts the white off cooking so when you crack it into the water it holds its shape much better…

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place eggs in some warm water, still in shell

shallow pan of boiling water, cracked warmed eggs into pan.

2 minutes, remove with slotted spoon.

warming the eggs 1st makes them a bit more gelatinous. hence them stay together when cracked into water.

these pretty much nail it for supermarket eggs which arent fresh.  ive found an easier method of the same process is to run some hot tap water into a jug then place the eggs in it.  boil the kettle, tip kettle water into pan and bring to proper boil, then knock down to minimum heat.  the 3 or 4 mins in the hot tap water helps keep it all together when you crack and place the eggs gently into the pan.

i find the 3 or 4 mins in hot tap water gives a greater chance of success than 20 secs or so in proper boiling water, better margin for error.  its a method i got off the last egg poaching thread and works best for me, believe me ive tried all the others 😀

So, the solution begins with starting to keep your own chickens?

I bloody love this place! 😂

Crack 2 eggs into a frying pan with 3mm of hot lard.

Just poach fresh eggs. If they are from a supermarket don’t waste your time. Our local farm shop does ok eggs but you need to check the dates. Our local chicken farm does the most amazing eggs that *not* poaching them should be a bloody crime.

If you keep the chickens in hot water will they lay poached eggs?

It’s been said before, but the eggs really do need to be ‘cloaca fresh’

The trick is it put the whole egg into the water for 20 seconds before you crack it.  Take out and then crack it in.  The immersion in its shell starts the white off cooking so when you crack it into the water it holds its shape much better…

This is the one. And believe me, I’ve tried them all.

been eating supermarket bought poached eggs all my 52 years.

what a load of old shyte is spouted on here sometimes…………ffs

The trick is it put the whole egg into the water for 20 seconds before you crack it.  Take out and then crack it in.  The immersion in its shell starts the white off cooking so when you crack it into the water it holds its shape much better…

Agree with this. Alternatively place the eggs in your hottest hot water out of the tap whilst you boil the water you are going to do the eggs in with a kettle. It works out about the same.

Crack 2 eggs into a frying pan with 3mm of hot lard.

That does nail it really😀

liking the shallow water, might give that a try

Apparently the vinegar is only needed if the eggs aren’t fresh.  As eggs get older the white gets thinner and the vinegar is an attempt to speed up the coagulation.

Freshness of eggs seems to be the single factor having the most effect on the success of poached eggs.  Whatever happens they always disappear in seconds though.  Love them

I buy 3 a day at work (with some mushrooms, mmmm)

fried or scrambled at home. Can’t poach them!

But I agree, eggs straight from the hen are the best.

I can get them to perch on the pan but cracking them while they drop them is near on impossible

Anyway, always done better with a big pan and fresh eggs, it’s not hard even managed them on the arga about 4 in a big pot

I can get them to perch on the pan but cracking them while they drop them is near on impossible

Like ‘splat a rat’ at a school summer Fayre?

Ton wins

I can get them to perch on the pan but cracking them while they drop them is near on impossible

You need to squeeze them, obviously.

Thanks,

lots of experimentation going to happen, let alone the amount of bread to toast.

what bread for toasting 😀

Housemate brought home an electric egg boiler/ poaching machine. 5 boiled eggs or 3 poached at a time. Epic!

I cheat. Crack the egg on to a square of cling film, lift the four corners on the cling film to form a pouch around the egg an twist the ends together to seal the egg inside. Then pop your cling filmed egg in gently rolling boiling water for five minutes, keeping the twisted end of the cling film pegged to the pan edge so you can then lift the eggs out when done. Untwist the cling film pouch and lift out poached egg.

I’m definitely going to give ton’s method a go too!

as spin says, egg in the water for 20 seconds, then remove and crack it in.