How to Poach an Egg

It seems silly of me to post a how-to post on this blog... considering I'm not an expert on most things, especially not this. But I tried poaching eggs for the first time today and it worked. It really worked! And I'm really excited about it. And then I got this super click of my first egg (well not literally my egg.. but you know) with the yolk running down just the way I wanted it to.


Apparently a lot of people are scared of poaching eggs. So I just wanted to add my two words and let you know that NO, it's NOT difficult in the least. It's quite easy and it turns out really well.

I poached the eggs one at a time. There are tips out there on the internet if you google it on how to poach many at the same time. I wasn't feeling that brave though.

1. Take a shallow bowl with a wide mouth (easier to remove the eggs)
2. Fill atleast 2 inches of water in the bowl. I filled 3 inches. (I'm paranoid that way)
3. For every cup of water you add to the bowl, add a teaspoon of white vinegar. (So obviously I measured the water in the bowl)
4. Set it to boil, till you see small bubbles on the sides and bottoms. You can bring it to a rolling boil and then turn down the gas so as to maintain temperature but without the bubbles.
5. Meanwhile break the egg into a small bowl with the yolk intact.
6. Once the water has reached the required temperature, swirl it at the centre to create a mini whirlpool and gently slide the egg into it.
7. The egg should start coagulating immediately. If you feel there are too many white bits floating around, gently nudge it towards the centre with a spoon
8. To get a soft set white with runny yolk, cook for 2 mins if your eggs are at room temperature. If the eggs are chilled, cook for 3 mins. If you don't cook long enough, the yolk will be really runny though the whites have set (Yup! got one like that too)
9. To get a set yolk cook for 2 more mins.
10. Remove with slotted spoon. Of course drain the water.
11. Sprinkle salt and pepper and serve.

I didn't really expect to like it considering there was no hollandaise sauce which is how I've always had poached eggs. But I really liked it. The whites were really soft but set and the yolk had this creamy runny texture that I liked. I think its something I'll be making more often.

PS: the base is a 100% whole wheat bread I'm working on.