Poached Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Use eggs that are a couple of days old for best results.
Boil water in a kettle and pour it through a clean cloth into a stewpan until half full.
Place the stewpan on moderate heat.
Poach and serve
Break an egg into a cup and gently slip it into the hot water.
Let the egg sit until the white is set.
Wait until the water boils; the egg is ready.
Use a slotted spoon to lift the egg.
Place the egg on a piece of toast.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Fresh eggs
- Their proteins set when heated, forming the poached egg's tender white and soft yolk.
- Toast
- Provides a crisp, absorbent base that holds the poached egg and its runny yolk.
The step that matters
Letting the egg sit until the white is set. Egg white proteins coagulate at gentle heat, so the white firms while the yolk stays runny. Lifting too early leaves the white loose and the egg falls apart in the water.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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