I am really spoilt with kitchen gadgets galore and so I seldom bother to make anything other than boiled eggs. I have an egg boiler and all you do is prick the egg, add the water, cover, switch it on and hey presto, with the ringing of a bell, boiled eggs. Some weekends scrambled eggs will feature on my breakfast table, and if Dave is cooking, omelettes are on order. But, I braved up and decided to make poached eggs for supper after a glass of wine. Now, I am not sure if the wine helped, but the concentration I was forced to use to get this right must have helped a bit. I tried again a few mornings later and I did not get the same perfect result. Now, I do not advocate having a drink to improve your cooking, but with poached eggs, I might always follow Floyd’s rule of a glass of wine when cooking.
Poached Eggs
Ingredients
- 4 fresh eggs at room temperature
- 5 mls vinegar
Method
- put a pan of water onto boil
- add the vinegar
- crack each egg into a small bowl
- stir the water to create a vortex
- gently slide an egg at a time into the water, stirring between each addition
- the eggs are done as soon as the white is set but the yolk must still be soft
- (time about 2min 30s, or if you take your eggs straight from the fridge, you will need 3 minutes)
- refresh in cold water and drain before serving
Notes
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Ingredients for my poached eggs:
- Eggs – In South Africa extra-large eggs weigh between 59g and 66g. I use free range eggs, and always in this weight range. When separating my eggs I do them one at a time. This way I never end up with egg yolk in the whites. If I am not using the egg whites for the recipe I store them in the freezer in bags. Be sure to write on the bag how many egg whites are in each one. Defrost your egg whites in the fridge overnight.
- Vinegar – I mostly use unfiltered, raw, apple cider vinegar. Not only for the health benefits, but because I like the taste. For basic recipes you can use plain white spirit or grape vinegar if this is all you have. But to elevate a recipe rather make use of something more special. I keep a bottle of aged balsamic vinegar for that. And will also use champagne / sherry / prosecco vinegar. I make my own flavoured ones using borage or chive flowers. And I make sure this is always a bottle of rice wine vinegar in my pantry for Asian recipes.
I have a nifty microwave poacher that works very well. (Trying to summon the energy for the Le Creuset challenge, hopefully I get it done in time.)
Hope so too, and that you feel better soon! I have a microwave poacher as well 🙂
Poached eggs are quite tricky.
Finally got around to the pear challenge. I will post it tomorrow.
🙂 Mandy
looking forward to it (and btw, you qualify for the Le Creuset challenge with a SA address) 🙂
Ooh, brilliant, thanks SO much. I am going to make a cup of tea – always helps for a little inspiration. 🙂 Hope I can come up with something before the deadline. 😀
hope your tea helped!
Those poached eggs look superb! I would cringe every time someone asked for poached eggs for breakfast in the cafè..scrambled was always my forte!
I think I like your forte! It is what I do best as well 🙂