How to Poach an Egg?

By Kitchenistic

14 Nov 2019

Poaching an egg is not that hard a job, but it may be difficult in the beginning if you have not tried to do it before. But luckily the skill is easy to pick up if you follow a few simple steps on how to poach an egg.

toasts with pouched eggs

How to Poach Eggs

Before you start you will have to have all of the right equipment ready to go. But there is no need to worry as you will have many of the things that you need already in your kitchen. You will need a small saucepan three quarters full of water, a small dish, a slotted spoon, and some paper towels will also be useful. Make sure that you use fresh eggs if you are poaching as they maintain their shape much better and you will get less wispy white threads breaking off.

Heat your water

Put your pan on the stove and heat the water until it is almost at boiling point. When you look at the water it must be shivering rather than boiling and this will be right for poaching your egg. As soon as you start to see a couple of bubbles rising to the top then you know that you are ready to go. You have to maintain the water at a hot but constant temperature all the way through while you are poaching an egg. This means that it important for you to keep a good eye on your water and you might have to alter the heat by turning it up and down as you poach your eggs to prevent them boiling or going too cool.

Crack your egg

You should crack your egg into a small dish before it goes into the pan. This allows you to add the egg to the almost boiled water much more rapidly and efficiently. You will find that this method will be really helpful in keeping the egg together as it cooks which will be better for poaching.

Add some vinegar

Not everyone believes that you need to use vinegar when you are poaching an egg, so you can miss this step if it suits you better. However, if you do put 1 tbsp of vinegar into your pan, it is said to help to keep the egg together as you poach it. Using a spoon, you need to stir it into the water quickly making a whirlpool effect in the middle of the water in the pan.

Add the egg to the pan

As the water swirls, put your cracked egg in the dish rapidly into the middle of the rotating water, remembering to take away the spoon just before the egg goes in. To begin with the egg will probably look very messy as it hits the water. You will need to give it time to settle so leave it be to swirl around and wait for it to come together. Everything is going right when you notice the white getting together around the egg yolk. You will normally get some stray streaks of egg white and these can be detached later after your eggs have cooked.

Poaching your egg

Allow the egg to poach in the pan for 3 minutes. This is where it is important to continually be mindful of the temperature of your water. This is so that you have enough heat, but your egg does not boil. If you enjoy a poached egg which has a runny yolk, then more often than not it will be ready in about 3 minutes. You will know that your egg is ready when the white of the egg creates a membrane on top of the yolk. The perfect poached egg will wobble away if you touch it with your spoon. It should not be liquid like when touched, so if it is, then just return your poached egg to the pan and allow it to continue poaching a little longer which will typically take about 5 minutes. As soon as you feel the egg is full poached and ready then the best way to remove it from the water is to use a slotted spoon. This will allow the water to drain through and away from your fully poached egg.

Pop your egg on some paper towels to allow it to drain off. You can repeat this whole process for as many eggs as you wish. You may want to clear the water after cooking a few eggs of any egg white bits ensuring that they do not affect your egg poaching.

It is possible to poach more than a few eggs up to an hour in advance of eating them. All you need to do is leave them on paper towels. When they have gone cool you will need to reheat them before serving. Just heat up the poached eggs in a large pot of water which is just below boiling point. Allow them to reheat in the water for around 1 minute.

A simple saucepan is really the only gadget that you require for making the best poached eggs. Though, specialized cooking equipment is available if you wish to try and get your poached eggs perfect. You can buy rings that keep eggs together as they cook. You can also buy an egg poacher and the latest electric egg cookers are great at poaching eggs.

Sandwich with asparagusand eggs

How To Eat A Poached Egg

Poached eggs are tasty and luckily, they are really healthy too so will be a good fit for most diets. Poached eggs on toast is a family favorite so enjoy them on any type of bread that you like or try them with an English muffin. If you are watching your weight and need a lighter lunch, try serving your delicious poached eggs with tender vegetables like asparagus as the soft yellowy yolk will act as a perfectly healthy sauce. For something more indulgent you could try finding out a recipe for eggs benedict which is made using poached eggs.