To throw the stupid egg poacher in the bin?

[LoveInTokyo]

Today I bought a couple of silicone egg poachers, the kind that hook over the edge of the saucepan. They were quite expensive because everything is expensive where I live and we were in a fancy I-saw-you-coming shop.

Anyway, I am pretty good at poaching eggs just in a pan full of water, but I’m always trying to make them neater and have never managed to do two at once that way.

So I thought I’d give these a go.

Total disaster.

The first egg just spread out all over the pan to the point where I had to throw it away.

I then tried again and just about managed to poach two eggs, but I had to stand there holding the bloody things because when I let go they dropped too far down into the water and started to “escape” from the moulds, it took far longer than it normally takes to poach two eggs one after the other, and they were a mess.

What am I doing wrong? Should I persevere, or are they just a piece of shit and useless to anyone who actually knows how to poach an egg?

I really seem to be in the minority here, but I SWEAR by my silicone egg poachers. I'd be lost without them. I think they were 2 for £1 in a local pound shop.
They look like these ones:

I do poached eggs straight into simmering water like what my mum taught me. Preload the toaster and if you push down the toaster lever straight after dumping the eggs in the water the timings should be perfect.

DP is in love with a four egg poacher thingy, the current one is from Woolworths (shows age) but is still slightly less insalubrious than the utterly grim post war poacher he brought with him to our mutual home courtesy of his gran.

I use poaching bags. Perfect every time

Ooh I'm having poached eggs for breakfast tomorrow🥚Yum!

Reads thread.
Adds poached eggs to meal plan list. Must learn how to poach egg successfully first.

I agree with the original poster. I can't get mine to work without the egg sticking even with butter, and it was supposed to.be healthier so I could just fry it in oil then.
My toddler daughter uses my silicone egg poaching things as little hats. I haven't thrown them out of the cupboard as it keeps her amused and stops her from emptying the cereal packets.

Mine are like Hilda's picture - from Lakeland I think. I use a dab of butter and they work well. There's always some white to brush out of them afterwards but it's not too bad.

Depends if you need them to look “nice” or not.

All you really needs is boiling weather, proper swivel around then crack a fresh egg in. Lift out with a slotted spoon. That’s all.

Ha! boiling weather = boiling water!

They did a thing on This Moring a while ago about poaching eggs and it changed my life

Firstly use fresh eggs. The water should be gently simmering, not boiling. Add a teaspoon of sea salt and a teaspoon of vinegar to the water. (Look on line for more accurate measurements) Strain the egg before adding it to the water to get rid of any watery white. Place the egg gently into the simmering water and leave until it floats to the surface. The result will be a perfect, round, soft egg every time.

NoSquirrels I don't mind how they look, but for some reason if I just do them in a pan I can only manage to cook one at a time

Spray a little fry light or small amount of oil in a frying pan with a lid, crack in eggs, add a tablespoon or 2 of water, pop the lid on and wait a minute or 3 and they will steam. Perfect eggs that look like fried but are a lot more healthy.

Party that actually sounds like a genius idea, I'm going to try it tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes. Do not expect this to be early as I'm just going to have

Smeaton just recently started doing mine in the microwave; in a mug with a bit of water to cover, i don't prick the yoke though. 1 minute and it's done.

I think the holes in the silicone poachers are for keeping them in place in the dishwasher. I thread one over the dish rack prong things on the top shelf.

We have an electric poached egg thingy. In my defence, I am useless at poached eggs, Dh makes them but he has a disability and struggles to lift things out of pots. Apparently this works.

Frying pan with an inch of boiling water. Crack your eggs in and cover with lid. Leave for 10 minutes. Perfect pitched eggs that around. #thanksdelia

Susanne an electric poached egg thingy sounds great.
And I got rid of my microwave so that's not an option

I have Lakeland silicone egg poachers that are the bee's pyjamas! The key is to take the water off a rolling boil before putting in, turn the heat off and put a lid on.

I'm confused though, mine are silicone flexible cups, no egg can escape.

I have some silicon ones like the picture above and I love them. I rub a bit of butter on first and the eggs come out fine. I float them first then drop the eggs in and I can do 4 at once. I have never been successful with poaching straight in the water they always seem to break up.

Update!

Well today I tried again and this time I put less water in the pan. Just enough to cover the egg poacher if it is resting on the bottom of the pan (making the hook to rest it on the side of the pan completely redundant). I also cracked the egg into a sieve first as suggested by someone above to get rid of some of the runnier bit of the yolk.

The result was much better - still not perfect but it didn’t spread out or stick to the egg poacher (even though I forgot to grease it). I think I will keep trying...

(Runnier bit of the white, not the yolk.)

As I said earlier, put water into a deep frying pan, bring to boil, put in a little bit of vinegar ( around 5 ml), strain raw egg in a sieve, then put into simmering water, leave for 2-3 mins, job done ✅

I use poach pods, lightly greased with butter, work great

I have the same ones as HildaZelda and they work really well. I use them at least 4 times a week and now have them down to a fine art.

Perfection (most times). I use a sauté pan with a glass lid, a little butter in the cups, crack in the eggs and float them in the simmering water.

If not quite done slip them out of the cups into the water to finish.