The Perfect Poached Egg Club

[PurplePansy05]

DH and I are big fans of poached eggs. We've tried everything (I think?) - vinegar, Poachies, you name it. They're pretty good, but not perfect IYSWIM.

Mumsnetters, please throw your Perfect Poached Egg recommendations at me!

1. How do you make one?
2. Your perfect poached egg combination. Mine is: avocado, smoked salmon with lemon juice and rye sourdough with real butter. Alternatively, avocado & chilli flakes on sourdough. Heaven.

Oh me me me!

I’ve perfected poached eggs, and while I like to fancy them up with avocado and the like, just topping a lightly toasted and well buttered roasting muffin is perfect.

The way I cook them is thus:

1. Put the kettle on the boil
2. Crack your egg (as fresh as possible - this method isn’t great for older eggs) into a a sieve or tea strainer over a cup. The stringy bits of white will drip out so you get a perfect egg
3. Pour your boiled water into a pan and keep on a low simmer. I salt my water but that’s to your preference
4. Gently and carefully lower your egg into the simmering water and allow to poach for two and half minutes. I put my bread/muffin in to toast at the same time
5. Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen towel, butter your toast, top with egg and voila! Perfect egg!

The only time this method hasn’t worked well for me is when the egg is older because it gets really stringy. But this gives foolproof eggs that form round each other properly.

Oh I forgot, I do like crispy bacon, mashed avocado topped with a poached egg on toasted buttered slice of a crusty loaf. Yum.

Ooh. Eggs poached in a pan with a dash of vinegar. Cook for,as long as the toast takes (with a lid on the pan ).

Served with sourdough, and tomatoes gently fried in olive oil and tarragon with a big dollop of avo /lime juice/maldon sea salt/ chilli or a big handful of just wilted spinnach.

And a whole pot of illy coffee or a whole pot of T2 Melbourne breakfast tea.

Is it breakfast time yet?

Am I cheating if I use an electric poacher?
Cost £10 from supermarket and it's got the thumbs up from my OH
(I think a decent poached egg is one of the trickiest things to cook, and get just right)

Following!!

I didn't realise there was a skill to poaching an egg, and I'm not claiming to be a great cook.

Boiling water in a pan, splash of vinegar, swirl it around, crack in egg. Take out when cooked. Isn't that it?!

Illy coffee. 10/10. My fav too!

WHAT is an electric poacher?! I think this is what I need in my life!

There's definitely a lot of skill to creating a beautiful poached egg. We're not there yet.

DH and I tend to use blue eggs (we're such egg snobs, I know).

How about poached eggs on toasted bread with real butter and freshly cracked black pepper?

I've got a £10 supermarket poacher too. Wonderful

Also fresh tiger loaf could be a good shout...

It is basically all about the freshness of the egg if you're just poaching the egg in water (ie not using an egg poacher). All the other tips people give are comparatively unimportant compared to that.

www.argos.co.uk/product/7912225
This is the type of thing I'm cheating with using.

How about poached eggs on toasted bread with real butter and freshly cracked black pepper?

Yes! But not sourdough. I m so fed up the ubiquity of it. It's impossible to get anything on normal toast if you go out for brunch these days. And I hate fighting with sourdough. It's so tough and dry.

Proper toast, proper butter and a simple poached egg, lightly seasoned with salt and ground pepper. That's the way to really appreciate the wonder of a poached egg.

@MsEllany - I've heard of your method but couldn't be bothered! May try. In ye olde days, I would get water boiling, add salt (because increases temperature), make a whirlpool with spoon and slip in egg. Hopefully, whirlpool action would allow white to wrap around yolk in a pleasing fashion. Never did the vinegar trick because think it affected overall taste too much.

Now I get some cling film, stick in an a ramakin, lightly oil, season with salt and pepper, break egg into, make parcel and gently drop into simmering water for about 4 minutes or desired 'wobbliness'.

I think - controversially? - that the perfect accompaniment to poached eggs are buttered crumpets. The eggs sit nicely on the top, they're just the right size, and then when you cut into the egg the runny yolk oozes deliciously down into the crumpet. I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow!

I bought some coffee filters which were too small for my coffee drip 🙄
So I use them to poaching eggs instead.

@toomanyplants This is going straight into my basket. Thank you. 19 people "looking at it right now" on Argos. I think I know where you all come from

@PurplePansy05 more than welcome! You can get cheaper, I definitely paid £10 for mine! Little tip... do a wipe around the inside of the poaching pods with a dab of oil on kitchen towel, eggs just glide out, easier cleaning too 👍🏼
Happy poaching!

@toomanyplants It's sold out in my area! Currently spying something similar on Amazon.

Great tip - thank you

I advocate a simple method.

1, Use very fresh eggs. The albumen needs to be firm, not runny.
2, Bring a large pan filled with water to the boil, and add a splash of white wine vinegar.
3, Using a balloon whisk, stir the simmering water briskly using a circular motion until a vortex forms in the centre. Crack the egg into the vortex.
4, Poach for 3 minutes, fish out, drain, serve on toasted, buttered sourdough. Sprinkle with Maldon salt and black pepper.
5, Scoff.

Blue eggs are a favourite here too. Such lovely golden yolks.

I will be trying the crumpet Idea for sure

None of us has mentioned eggs benedict / florentine, the glorious combo of toasted muffin (Waitrose buttermilk ones) with lightly salted oresident buttter , a good few slices of smoked salmon, poachies, and a generous pouring of hollandaise. Cracked black pepper with a lemon ready to squeeze on the side. Our go-to special occasion brekky in the lightly poached household.

Can you tell I love poached eggs. A lot. ? I mean just look at my user name (which I've had for yonks)

This is a lovely thread.

Hmm, well I've just had mushrooms and brie on sourdough. I do have smoked salmon flakes and one egg left, so that might be next.

Sorry no expert on cooking poached eggs but a friend used to boil them half a minute first, then take them out and crack them into the pan of water, to keep their shape.

Use a frying pan!

Much easier and better than a saucepan for poaching

Bring water to the boil then swirl it about to creat a wee whirlpool, remove from heat then crack the egg in. Leave it in there while you make the toast.

I find using a very small pan works better as the egg stays together and doesn't spread out too much.

I used to work in a café where we bought in vaccum packed poached eggs. They were vile (not envy).

@lightlypoached Oh the creaminess of the blue eggs is fantastic. And the colour, this vivid orangey - yellow yolk. Mmmm.

See I love it when they are this sort of shape and consistency, but we very rarely achieve poached eggs looking like this. Any ideas?

I see everyone is making them differently, there's definitely as much magic to it as the perfectly brewed cup of tea or coffee! It matters

Also, unsalted butter is the one with poachies. You're welcome