the perfect poached egg -how do you do yours

[brimfull]

funny link she does hers in cling film

I've just bought egg poaching pan and it took ages
of course I got impatient and they were undercooked and stuck to the little poachiing trays

so how do you do yours?

Fresh eggs. Seriously fresh eggs. The older they are, the more the white thins and makes a bloody mess of the pan.

Fresh duck eggs are particularly easy to poach.

Pan of water. Bring to gentle bubble. Drop in. Leave on heat for 2 minutes-ish. Lid on. Toast on. Remove from heat for about 5 minutes. Butter toast. Scoop out egg. Split n salt. Devour.

None of this vinegar in the water, whirling or swirling. Just very fresh eggs and water.

well I'm not gonna get a chicken so it's waitrose eggs I'm afraid
will look out for duck eggs though

I use a small saute pan (wide and deep). Fill 3/4 with water, add a little salt and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer so that the surface is barely moving and little bubbles are rising from the bottom of the pan

Crack room-temp eggs and slip gently into the water one at a time. If it sinks, turn the heat up slightly . Cook for 3 - 4 mins. Remove with a slotted spoon. Easy.

I used to use a poaching pan but got fed up waiting as it does take a long time.

Now I just simmer some water in a frying pan, add a little vinegar (no idea why), and crack the egg in. I've found Delia's recipe if that's any help

www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/eggs/how-to-poach-an-egg.html

I was nervous when I first gave it a go but it does work OK and I now have poached eggs more often

I do put vinegar in the water for ours, and never had a problem.

Boiling water with vinegar, crack egg into water, ignore while toast cooks.

Life out egg on to hot buttered toast, salt and eat!

yup...don't bother trying to poach shop eggs unless you have the pan with the moulds, they are just not fresh enough.

Other than that timing is trial and error, longer if eggs are from fridge, and dependant on how runny you are prepared to tolerate!

I only ever use the pan of water method...as youcantteuchthis said.

Agree that fresh eggs are a must!!

I've just bought those funny little silicon poaching cups from Lakeland. They are brilliant - I've never been bothered to faff around poaching eggs before, and now have them for lunch at least once a week. So simple.

I do clingfilm too! Could never manage to cook poached eggs successfully until I picked up this tip and now they're perfect everytime !

ooh piprabit I've been eyeing up those pod things.

those who are banging on about fresh eggs- do you have chickens ?
How fresh ..still warm?

Pan of gently bubbling water; supermarket eggs of any age; 2mins 20s. Lift out with slotted spoon.

Why make life difficult - and more washing up?

I've not noticed a need for fresh eggs. Mine always work perfectly.

I boil water in a saucepan, swish around with a chopstick so that the water is spinning around, add the egg (via a teacup) to the hot water and the spinning water cooks and swirls the egg into the required shape.

In the past I've put the egg in a metal soup ladle inside the pan and that works too.

I use a pod too, it's great, but remember to put a lid on the pan or it won't work. I like that you can pull them out and wobble them and maybe put them back to cook some more to get them just how you like them.

I have the silicone moulds too (got them from Asda rather than Lakeland) the eggs do still stick though so either wipe the moulds with some kitchen roll with a bit of oil or spray them with frylight. Takes 7 minutes to make them so that the white is set and the yolks still runny.

Fresh egg, teaspoon of vinegar, gently whirl and drop into middle until it looks done. Supermarket fresh is ok. The fresher they are the better the result though.

hmm 7 mins is a long time
much faster in water isn't it
I am very impatient

Very similar to llareggub

Boil water in small saucepan

When it boils, swirl around with a slated spoon.

Tip egg in [via a teacup/bowl]

Cook for a couple of mins

Check, by lifting out with slatted spoon

Lift out, dry on kitchen paper-perfect!

it doesn't take mine 7 mins, it takes up to 5 mins, dep on the size of the egg. I put the egg on for 2 mins, then after 2 mins put the toast down, when the toast's ready, the egg's ready.

and I don't oil the pod either, just slide a knife around when it's cooked, works fine.

just boiling water nothing added.
fresh egg.
1 min simmer.
heat off.
lid on for 5 mins

Lakeland poach pods, best thing ever

right am gonna have one more go with crappy poaching pan
then will try clingfilm
prob end up buying pod things

lurve poached eggs

thanks everyone

Try the no gadget method too. Just choose your eggs wisely!

Yes agree Theskiing, there is no need to fanny around with clingfilm, pods or a poaching pan!!!!