What’s the fuss about poached eggs?

[JeannieJo]

Bit of a laugh really, but I just don’t get it. Why the big thing about poached eggs, isn’t a boiled egg just the same and FAR easier to make? 🤣

Oh yuk... me too. Much prefer well cooked, firm scrambled or a well cooked omelette.

Oh yuck no, I love eggs but not poached 🤮
Scrambled is my preference
I also like an egg between soft and hard boiled sliced on toast.

So how would you make 4 or 6? Once one is in you can’t swirl the water and if you do one at a time the first ones are cold and sometimes continue cooking so over cooked

in order of preference:

Poached
scrambled
fried
boiled
omelette

boiled would be higher but the shells are bothersome. If you eat from an egg cup you sometimes get a tiny bit of shell in your mouth and ruins life. If you try to peel the thing whole sometimes the shell sticks and it all fucks up

How dreadfully non-u of them.

I don't mind a poached egg but you need really fresh eggs for them to be good! Still prefer scrambled, fried (slightly crispy white and runny yolk) or dippy egg & soldiers!

i love eggs in all formats except poached <shudder>

you couldn’t pay me to eat one

Really? I hadn't thought of it like that.

They are my favourite way of doing eggs, the yolk must be runny and the white just set, none of this well
done rubberyness.

Fresh eggs, frying pan of water just simmering (large pan if doing several), lower them in gently from a cup, put the lid on, turn the heat off and wait. No bubbling, no vortexing, no salt or vinegar. Lift out with a slotted spoon, dab on kitchen roll and eat.

I do that too, delia? Works every time

I watched an insta chef sieving the eggs first before they go in the water. Supposed to keep them neat and tidy. I have tried and I suppose it does but it's not a hill to die on in the egg poaching world maybe.

Fab! How long do you simmer for?

I find it's a bit hit and miss with boiled eggs but with poached I can see when the white is firm but the yolk is runny.
I find boiled eggs comforting and poached eggs a little bit decadent

Poached eggs are so much better than boiled as they're more solid so they stay eggy. Boiled eggs are just messy, eggy liquid. Best eggs are crispy over-easy, but poached are second, and rather healthier. And not hard to make - just get fresh, good quality eggs and bring them to room temperature, heat the (salted) water and swirl it so that there's a whirlpool, then slowly slide the egg into the centre of the vortex. Possibly the easiest egg to cook, I've never understood why people find it hard? Boiled you have to use a timer, and flipping a fried takes practice to not break the yoke. And my omelettes still don't taste like a good hotel's omelettes, and I've been practising them for years :(

I’d love to know how you get them right. I have bought all sorts of gadgets to get them right but I can never do it. I order them in restaurants and love how they come out. Please share your poached eggs recipe 😊.

What about coddled eggs?
Poached eggs are my favourite but I usually scramble eggs as it’s easier to get perfect.
Hard boiled ages are easy to shell if pressure cooked.

I do just make one at a time. I mean you only want to eat one at a time don’t you? When cooking for others I serve myself last and mine is the most perfect one :)

Step 1. Build your hen house…

Poached eggs are better the fresher they are, so the albumin has absorbed as little of the amniotic fluid as possible.

I find the trick is to turn off the heat to the pan before you think they are cooked but not take them out of the pan until the 3 minutes is up

What about using one of those retro pans with four little panlets inside that you crack the eggs into and sort of steam them? They do come out tidy shapes to be fair.

i used to like them when i made them with a poacher, so adding butter to the dish, but without a poacher, just put in boiling water, they are not for me!

I’m possibly a heretic, but here’s my method.

I take a piece of cling film and butter it. I place the buttered cling film in a ramekin and crack the egg into it. Then I wrap the egg up with a twist and put the wrapped parcel into the boiling water. When they’re done, I fish them out with a fork.

It’s a bit fussy and possibly no longer technically poached, but oh my, they’re soooooo good.

There's also the matter of shell cracking, which happens at different stages. So with boiled you crack the shell to discover if you've got it just right, and with poached/scrambled/fried/omelette there's all to play for after you've cracked it.

The tip for shelling hard-boiled eggs is to use older eggs. Comes off really easily then.

I don't really know, I just check them after a few minutes and till they are done. It's been a while since I've had one, egg on toast is more of a winter thing for me.