A Perfectly Poached Egg

Seductive quivering blob asking to be poked.

It's easter this sunday, and I have a dozen fresh local eggs, so this week's going to be an eggs-tremely eggs-citing eggs-perience. Sorry, I couldn't help it hehe.

It'd be a shame not to poach fresh eggs, because fresh eggs really make all the difference between a perfectly formed poached egg and one with the whites running all over the place. Poaching eggs is one scary kitchen task that I took very long to finally dare to do, and being the foodie nerd that I am, researched extensively on. Here's a Guardian article which compares the methods. And after a few delicious (ugly poached eggs are still poached eggs) flops, here's the method I swear by:

Perfectly Poached Eggs

Ingredients

1 fresh free-range egg

a pot of water

a tsp of vinegar

Method

1. Bring the pot of water to a boil, and then reduce to simmer. Add the vinegar.

2. Meanwhile, crack the egg into a shallow bowl (or if you dare, you can just do it straight into the water later, but I'm chicken.)

3. Stir the boiling water vigorously (with a whisk if you like but nah) until you get a whirpool, then gently slip the egg into the centre of this whirlpool.

4. Once the whites form around the egg yolk, take it off the stove and just let it sit in the hot water for a couple of min, or till the whites are set but soft, but the yolk is still raw (tell by sight, not touch!!)

5. Immediately remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and serve (e.g. with wilted spinach and generously buttered sourdough toast) or transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop it cooking then reheat in a pan of simmering water.