Wednesday, June 16, 2010

BASICS: Poached Egg

Eggs on iPhone 4

People think poached eggs are intimitating or even difficult and time comsuming. This line of thinking could not be further from the truth. Once you get the technique down, you can breeze through countless poached eggs for your Sunday brunch. Poached eggs not only taste great by themselves but even the simplest addition of toast makes a boring egg a wonderful breakfast.

There a few things needed to make a simple poached egg: Egg, vinegar, a small sauce pan, a large skillet, a small ramekin, and a slotted spoon.

To start, fill the small sauce pan with water and bring to a boil. Next, fill the large skillet with water and bring it to a low simmer. Becareful as you do not want a rolling boil since it will completely break apart your egg. Place the egg in the sauce pan for 30-45 seconds to lightly set the egg. Crack open the egg and place it in the ramekin. Take the slotted spoon and make a gentle whirlpool in the skillet. Slowly pour the egg in the middle of the skillet. The egg should form a small ball and begin to cook. Remove the skillet from the heat and cook the egg for 2-3 minutes, depending on heat and size of the egg.

Once the egg is cooked, remove it with the slotted spoon and pat dry with a paper towel. Serve the egg immediately with a dash of salt and pepper. It's that simple!

Simple poached egg

This took me several attempts to final get the technique right. I've found it easier to bring the water in the skillet to a small bowl and wait until it is dead still. I then place the egg in the middle and THEN make a gentle whirlpool. On several occasions, the whirlpool pulled the egg apart.

There are several ways to make multiple poached eggs. One is to cook multiple eggs depending on the size of your skillet at the same time. The other is to make the eggs individually. Once each egg is cooked, place it on a paper towel and cook your next. When you are ready to serve, simply place all eggs back in the low boling water to for 45-60 seconds to reheat. I've also read it's best to have an ice bath to place the cooked eggs in for 15 second to stop the cooking. If you're cooking for 4 or more people, I would use the reheating technique. You can simply find what way works best for the given circumstance.

Once you have mastered the poached egg, you have countless way to use a poached in your every day cooking. The most basic and my personal favorite is eggs benedict.