"HowToPoachAnEgg" news and stories

Everyone has his or her own way of poaching an egg. Some twirl the egg into a ghostly tornado in a pot of water , some buy special poachers and some even cheat and bake them. (One of our favorites is cracking an egg into a greased ladle and holding it in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes.) This video, however, explains an even an easier way -- gently pouring eggs into vinegar-laced water.

Bay Area food editor Jenny Slafkosky here describes the particulars of poaching and how a little vinegar will help the albumin in the egg white coagulate (or firm up) more quickly. This is quite a discovery for those of us who love poaching eggs, all of whom have probably experienced watching them shred mercilessly in a pot of boiling water.

Slafkosky's simple method gets wonderful results, and -- a bonus! -- she also tells us how to make poached eggs for a whole crowd. Give it a click for flawless poached eggs down the road, and let us know how it goes!

I grew up eating poached eggs. I liked it best when my dad would prepare them, as he always served them over a piece of toast that he had buttered and then cut into squares. That way it would be easy to get a bit of yolk-soaked toast with every bite (occasionally when I go home to Portland, I am still able to convince him to make me breakfast like this). Because of this early exposure to poached eggs, I never thought them to be foreign or complicated and when I was old enough to operate the stove, a pan of water and a slotted spoon, I started whipping them up myself. It wasn't until I read Julie and Julia did I realize that not everyone sees poached eggs as the deadly easy meal that I've always known them to be.

However, now that I know that some folks are challenged by the poaching of the eggs, I thought I'd try to help by pointing you all in the direction of some helpful information. Rob at B3TA tried four different methods for poaching eggs and, after much trial and error, comes to stunning realization about the utility of a pot of boiling water, an egg and some plastic wrap. Go check it out for yourself!

[via Serious Eats]

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