To Poach Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Fill a wide, clean pan halfway with spring water and add the salt.
Heat the pan over a smoke-free fire until the water boils.
Carefully break the eggs into separate cups.
Poach and serve
Once the water is boiling, remove the pan from heat and gently slide the eggs into the water.
Let the eggs sit until the whites are almost set, about 1 minute.
Return the pan to the heat and simmer the eggs for 2.5 to 3 minutes.
Lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon, trim the edges, and serve on dressed spinach or toasted bread.
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
- Whites set around the yolk while the yolk stays soft, forming the poached egg's body.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the poaching water, lightly flavouring the eggs as they cook.
The step that matters
Sliding the eggs into the water. Eggs dropped into boiling water at full rolling boil can spread and tear. Removing the pan from the heat first lets the whites coagulate in a compact shape.
“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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