How to Poach Eggs Perfectly Every Time
Gabriel Wilson loves to cook, eat tasty foods and drink a glass of wine. And not wash up.
Soft, runny poached eggs oozing deliciously over buttered brown soda bread is a favorite breakfast of mine: it's healthy and low calorie too. Below is an easy and simple method to achieve perfectly poached eggs every time to ensure your eggs are just right; a soft and runny egg yolk with a firm, solid egg white.
Cook And Rate
Cook Time
| Prep time | Cook time | Ready in | Yields |
|---|---|---|---|
3 min | 3 min | 6 min | serves 2 |
Poaching Eggs
Ingredients:
- 4 very fresh free range eggs at room temperature
- a splash of one of the following: apple cider vinegar, a fruit based vinegar or a white wine vinegar
- a pinch of salt
- boiling water straight from the kettle
Utensils:
- a deep bottomed pot
- four espresso cups or similar sized coffee cups
- a slotted spoon
Method:
- Pour the boiling water into the deep bottomed pot over a medium heat, allowing the water to simmer lightly.
- Add in the salt.
- Add in the splash of whichever vinegar you are using.
- Crack each egg into one of the four individual espresso cups.
- Gently lower the cup into the simmering water (hold the cup by the handle) and tip the cup slightly, thus allowing the egg to slip gently into the simmering water.
- Repeat with the remaining eggs.
- Simmer the eggs for 2 minutes (use a timer, timing is crucial).
- Turn off the heat and allow the eggs to sit in the hot water for a further minute.
- Remove the poached eggs from the hot water with a slotted spoon.
To Serve:
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- Serve on thickly sliced homemade buttered brown soda bread.
- Sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper and a pinch of salt.
Perfectly poached eggs
Gabriel Wilson
Poached eggs on buttered homemade brown soda bread, delicious and healthy.
Gabriel Wilson
Cook's Tips
Using a light flavored vinegar like apple cider, a fruit based or white wine vinegar ensures you don't get that horrible vinegar taste that ordinary malt vinegar has. Malt vinegar has a very strong flavor and is best kept for your french fries.
Using the little cups helps mould the egg, hence keeping a nice round shape.
To achieve perfect poached eggs every time, you will need very fresh eggs. To test your eggs to ensure they are fresh, follow these simple guidelines:
- Fill a deep bowl with cold water.
- Gently place the egg into the water.
- If the egg sinks, it's fresh.
- A really fresh one will sit a the bottom of the bowl.
- If it floats, it's not so fresh; the older the egg, the higher it will float.
- A really old one will float near the top of the bowl.
The theory behind this test; the more air in the egg the older it is, hence the higher it floats.
A Few Interesting Nutrition Facts for the Average Hen Egg:
Eggs are a low fat food with only a mere 70 to 80 calories per average medium egg. Eggs are a readily available cheap and healthy food source. Eggs are full of vitamins and minerals which the body requires on a daily basis for healthy functioning. Among numerous essential vitamins and minerals eggs contain:
- Protein: essential for healthy growth and muscle repair
- Vitamin A: helps to maintains healthy skin tissue and eye tissue
- Vitamin E: maintains good health and helps fights infection
- Numerous B vitamins including folic acid; prevents birth defects and choline; promotes healthy brain development
- Vitamin D: essential for the development of strong bones and strong teeth
- Iodine: controls the functioning of the thyroid glands
- Iron: maintains a healthy supply of red blood cells
- Zinc: helps promote a healthy immune system
© 2012 Gabriel Wilson
