Poached eggs are just a glorious thing. They make any meal seem more gourmet, more sexy, and more food porn-y, right? My favorite way to enjoy a poached egg is on a salad. As a vegetarian, it adds necessary protein to the meal and then you don’t need any dressing.
This method makes a perfect egg every time!
- 1 farm fresh organic egg
- 8 cups of water or more
- 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or more
- 2 teaspoons of salt
1. Egg freshness doesn’t matter more than when you are poaching one. Frying, scrambling and hard boiling techniques are fairly easy on the structure of the egg. Dumping one into a pot of boiling water is a whole other story. So if you are going to poach eggs, use very, very fresh ones that are organic. If you don’t, you will be disappointed by the results. Now, using your fresh egg, crack it and place it in a bowl that will make it easy to pour.
2. For whatever pan you use, you want about 1 1/2 – 2 inches of depth with your water. My sauce pan took 6 cups. You don’t want more than this, keep it at 2 inches (yes that sounds dirty) because the shallow water helps with keeping the egg shape.
3. For every 4 cups of water, you want to add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Don’t worry, I have a trick on how to remove the vinegar flavor once it is cooked. See, the vinegar helps keep the egg together. Without it, it will get all ghosty and break up a bit in the boiling water.
4. Bring the water to boil and then reduce it so that it just simmers. Once you achieve that, spin the water with a spoon, creating a whirlpool affect. Watch my video on how to do this.
5. Gently deliver the egg into the water and let it cook for about 3 minutes or so if you want the yolk runny. Cook it for 5 minutes if you want if cooked.
6. Once it is done cooking, transfer the cooked egg to a bowl of iced water. This stops it from cooking if you wanted the yolk runny.
7. Heat four cups of water and 2 teaspoons of salt over a medium-low heat so that it is just warm. Transfer your poached egg to the salt bath and warm it for about 30 seconds. This will remove the vinegar taste and warm the egg up for serving. This is especially helpful for when poaching large quantities for brunch.
Enjoy!
