I love poached eggs. There’s nothing better for breakfast than the runny yolk to flavour your bread. The problem is, I’ve never learned how to do it. So I set out to learn a couple of weeks ago. I looked up my cooking Bible; Stephanie Alexander’s ‘The Cook’s Companion’ and she said that to poach eggs you’ve got to spin a pan of boiling water with a spoon to create a whirlpool, then drop the egg into the centre and out pops a perfectly poach egg. Problem was, when I did that, my eggs didn’t stay in the centre – they ‘went with the flow’ and spun around and lost most of their white. I tried one egg without the spin trick, and it lost just as a much white.
So… If you do know how to poach an egg, I’d appreciate a comment explaining how I can do it.
Here’s the recipe I was making. The eggs were editable, but they were really just good yolks with a thin layer of egg white. Besides that, it’s a pretty good, healthy, and slightly gourmet breakfast option.
Smoked Salmon, sauteed mushrooms and poached eggs on toast
4 slices thickly sliced, good quality bread. I used Ciabatta.
4 slices smoked salmon
three handfuls of selected gourmet mushrooms, sliced
4 sprigs thyme
1/2 sprig rosemary
6 small tomatoes, halved
4 eggs
1 big knob of butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley.
To make the mushrooms, heat the butter with a little olive oil in a fry pan. Sautee mushrooms with the tomatoes, rosemary, thyme salt and pepper until cooked. Poach eggs (the above method might work for you, but check comments for a better one (hopefully!)). Toast bread, top with smoked salmon, mushroom mixture and eggs. Then garnish with parsley. Serves 2
hey mate, are your eggs super fresh?
apparently you are meant to poach the freshest of eggs or the whites will disappear.
Of course to ensure this you’ll have to buy some chickens…
Hey Geoff,
I wouldn’t say the eggs i used were old, but they probably weren’t super fresh. Maybe that’s the trick. So thanks for the tip. I’d love a few chickens running round. I always told pen that instead of a dog i wouldn’t mind getting a goat. Not sure what the landlord would say though…
Nick
I thought of another way we’ve done it. You put the eggs in airtight inside some glad wrap, so it’s a nice little ball.
there’s quite a few fiddly things you have to do to make it work properly, but if you get the glad wrap bit right the poaching bit is super simple.
i think we got it off masterchef early on in the season, and it worked when we tried it.
Hey Nick
I have asked Dad about this. I think he gave me a recipe before using Vinegar maybe… from memory it kinda worked.
This might help…
Thanks guys! Vinegar is the key!! I went away with some friends last week and we made poached eggs, using vinegar and the spin method, and it worked! Same as what the video says too! Thanks! Problem solved!
Nick
Hey, what a great video lesson. The reason I stopped poaching eggs was because of the cleanup later, it’s a mess.
When I was extremely poor, I had to figure out how to stretch $30 for breakfast for the entire month. So I got creative and bought the large family packs of eggs, a large bag of pre-grated cheese and a few boxes of generic saltine crackers.
Poached eggs on crumbled saltines topped with the shredded cheese mix… for less than $1 a day for breakfast… and tastes great. That with coffee makes for a great breakfast alternative when money is really limited.
Also, I built my first business while feeding myself that breakfast.