The ones with the little metal cups that sit in the water held up by a metal ring thingy.
I bought one recently. I’ve succesfully done eggs in it, and they were good, but they took bloody ages. So am I doing it right?
Should the cups be just submerged or a lot more?
Lid on or off?
I hate those cup things! I use a non-stick tray that sits atop a pot instead.
In mine, I like to butter-poach the eggs. The water doesn’t need to touch the cups at all, really. Put a tiny bit of butter in the cup and boil the water. The cups will be heated by the steam, and actually get a hotter than they would in the water. If you like your yolks runny, turn up the heat so that the whites will cook quickly, before the yolks harden. If you like a solid egg, you can cook them longer on lower heat.
Then again, maybe I’m missing out on a finer poached egg due to my impatience. Perhaps putting the cups in the water makes them better. I guess I’ll have to try it sometime.
Lute Skywatcher do they still count as poached that way? Do they look like fried?
I like mine runny, so - Lid on, cups not touching water, boiling water. I’ll try it next time.
P.S. When I did them I did let the water boil, and I put the lid on initially but I then couldn’t see the eggs so couldn’t tell if they were cooked. I also had to keep checking one of them with a knife. The yolk was getting that pale yellow hint that suggests hardening, but the inner ‘white’ was still transparent. I decided to just keep cooking for a bit and hope for the best. Luckily the yolk was still runny.
Me, I buy super-fresh eggs (I’m lucky - got an egg ranch about five miles away) and drop 'em straight into simmering salted water. Fresh eggs poach up plump and oval and don’t spread out all over in the water. Four minutes for a jumbo egg and then onto the plate with a slice of Canadian bacon – it’s my favorite way of cooking eggs.
I’ve tried poaching eggs in water. Maybe my eggs weren’t fresh enough, or maybe I’m hopeles, but they were disasters every time, hence the purchase of the pan.
I’m also hopeless at omlettes.
I’m definitely not a chef. But when I poach an egg, I just let the water simmer and not boil. Then I simply crack the egg and drop the contents (without the shell) from a very low height. I let the simmering water do its work for a few minutes and scoop it out with a spatula. I like the egg to be runny as well. I add salt and some vingar to the water beforehand. I usually make 2 and put them over buttered toast. It’s better when you let a tiny bit of the water spill onto the toast. I ground a little pepper on the eggs and then eat. It’s my favorite breakfast.
(But I can scramble eggs like no-one else!)
The eggs cook in the steam, so if you keep lifting the lid to see if they are done yet you are letting the steam out and making them take longer… A little bit of butter in the bottom of the cup is the way I was taught too. Dropping the eggs straight into hot water is a perfectly acceptable way to cook eggs but it’s not the same thing as poached eggs made in a poacher at all IMO. Besides my eggs never stay together if I do them like that. On the other hand there is a real alternative to having a poacher if you don’t mind faffing around: Place a 9 -12 inch square of clingfilm over a cup, push the middle down to make a hollow. Put a smear of butter in the clingfilm hollow then break an egg into it. Gather the clingfilm up by the corners and twizzle it so the egg is in a little pouch hanging from a clingfilm string. Tie this onto a wooden spoon. repeat for as many eggs as you wish, use the spoon to dangle the pouched (ha ha) eggs into a pan of boiling water. Carefully balance a saucepan lid on top and they cook in 3 to 5 minutes depending on size of egg, how runny you like them etc. Use scissors to cut the clingfilm off the cooked eggs.
violacrane doesn’t the cling film melt instantly???
Am I a) underestimating the power of cling-film, or b) misunderstanding your instructions?
Look, you poach eggs by putting them in simmering water until the set. It’s not that hard. There are just a couple of tricks:
It’s really not that hard. Fish it out carefully, let it drain a moment, then put it on a buttered English muffin. Heaven!
It’s all well and good saying all that, but what if, like me, you want at least three eggs and you want them all to be warm? This method suggests doing them one at a time. I am lazy and fat. I want at least 3 poached eggs with as much ease and punctuality as possible.
Even if you do only want one, those techniques have never worked for me. I’ve read 'em and tried 'em before and the only one that seems to make any difference at all is the vinegar; they do seem to hold together better if there’s vinegar in the water.
The whirlpool thing only works with one egg at a time, and it never has worked for me, ever. It just makes little egg tornados, with the white even MORE spread out than it would have been if I just put it into simmering water.
Using more water so the egg will theoretically not touch the bottom doesn’t work, either. Eggs don’t float in water, they sink. Regardless of how much water you put, they will touch the bottom.
I have no clue what #4 means. What side? Which edge?
I use the little poached egg thingy that the OP talks about - a heart shaped one, no less - and it’s OK but it’s hard to get the eggs out when they’re done. I haven’t tried the butter in the bottom of each one, though - that’s probably worth a try. Also, I think the heart shape makes it hard. Maybe I’ll get a more normal one.
They’re definately poached. There’s water in the bottom of the pot and with a lid on the eggs are steam cooked.
Oops forgot to check the thread, soz about that Lobsang. No it doesn’t melt, you are definiteley underestimating the power of cling film! NB the cling film pouches should be dangling freely in the boiling water, not touching the bottom of the pan. if allowed to touch the bottom of the pan i offer no guaranties.
I guess it’s worth the cost of an egg and a piece of cling film. I’ll try it.
i’ve got one of those little aluminum poacher sets from ages and ages ago (one-egg model). teeny-tiny saucepan, concave insert with a few holes around the edge to let the steam escape from the water below, lid. i always spray the saucer insert with non-stick buttery-flavored spray before i add the egg, otherwise it’s a messy chore of running a knife-blade around the egg to get it to come loose. i also usually add some herbal seasoning to the egg before putting it over the boiling water. since the saucepan is so tiny and shallow, the insert pretty much has to be slightly immersed in the water, or the whole thing would boil dry before the egg managed to cook. lid on top, minimal peeking until the white has finished cooking.
poached eggs with still-liquid yolks on top of corned beef (or roast beef) hash. yummmm!
That’s the sort of thing I have now except it’s a three-egg model and didn’t come with a saucepan or lid.
I have a poacher like that described in the OP, except the cups are plastic, not metal. I like it. I’ve found that the ideal time (runny yolk, but not runny white) is around 6.5 minutes. I don’t use butter–just some cooking spray in the cups so that the eggs slip right out with the aid of a rubber spatula.
We have got both a four and two egg version. In both cases the cups are made of a hard plastic and so are sort of non-stick . Even so we still smear a little butter in them. A top tip here :- always put a dash of lemon juice or vinegar in the water. This prevents the pan turning black due to the chemicals in the tap water. I find cooking time is about five minutes.
We always have poached eggs on hot buttered toast for Sunday breakfast , served with a large cup of of fresh brewed coffee. Perfect.