Perfect Poached Eggs and the most common Three Mistakes Cooks Make
Mistake 1: Foamy mess of egg whites.
Use fresh eggs only. Boiled hardboiled eggs want an older yolk, because the albumen (egg white) begins to break down, making it easy to peel. With poached eggs, this turns to foam – a very bad situation for poached eggs.
Sometimes you don’t know how old the eggs are. In this case, break them into a strainer, allowing the water from the white to drip away before putting it into the hot water.
Mistake 2: Make sure your water is boiling hot.
You don’t want a rolling boil, just a high simmer. Boiling water will break the white apart. Water that is not hot enough will allow your white to float away before it sets, and create foam.
A splash of vinegar will help the white set more quickly, but some people can taste the vinegar, so don’t use too much. Ideally, use lemon. This has a better taste than vinegar, and in the case of Eggs Benedict actually enhances the flavor. Both are acids, and have a pH level of about 2.
If using an electric range, you can bring the water up to a rolling boil, then drop a few ice chips into the water just before putting your egg in, the rolling boil will stop immediately. Put your egg into the calmed water. If using gas, it’s easy – turn the heat down to low once the water is boiling. The water will calm in seconds.
Mistake 3: Avoid turbulence
Along with a rolling boil, if you drop an egg into the hot water too abruptly it “splashes” breaking apart the white. Lower the egg gently into the water.
The best way is to break an egg into individual ramekins, then gently lower the bowl into the water, then tip up to release the egg. This takes time, so using a strainer is a good way to avoid Mistake 1 and Mistake 3 at the same time.
Poaching Times
- 2½ minutes White is mostly cooked, while yolk is very molten
- 3 minutes White is complete set but soft, yolk begins to harden
- 3½ minutes White is now hard, yolk is mostly cooked
- 4 minutes White is now hard, yolk is completely cooked
This assumes room temperature eggs. If using cold eggs, add 10-15 seconds to the above times.
If poaching multiple eggs, put them ALL into a glass bowl, and set them into the water at the same time, otherwise some of the eggs will be overcooked.
Removing an egg from the water:
Use a slotted spoon. If you use a regular spoon, you get too much water in with the egg. Spider strainers can tend to break the yolk. Ideally, put the egg into a paper towel or tea towel, and roll it very slightly before rolling it into your serving bowl or onto your English muffin.
Preparing eggs ahead of time:
This works only if people want harder cooked eggs, but does not work when people want runny yolks.
To prepare eggs ahead of time, poach the eggs for 2-2½ minutes in a basket, then put the basket into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. When ready to serve, return individual eggs to boiling water and cook for 60 seconds for a 3 minute egg. Slightly longer if they want a hard-cooked poached egg.
