Perfectly Poached Eggs
Words, recipe and photography by Charlene Trist
According to a recipe book titled ‘The Cooks Bible’ by the world’s oldest and most famous culinary institute, Le Cordon Bleu, the recipe for perfectly poaching an egg is summed up as follows:
“Add 1 tbsp wine vinegar and a tarragon spring to boiling water. Do not add salt. Turn off the heat, crack in the eggs and cover. Let stand until the whites are opaque, 3 minutes”.
Sounds pretty simple right? Well, it is. It’s a fairly simple process but it does take a bit of practice and a little more learning to get that firm egg white and runny yolk just right.
Tools – what you’ll need to get started
A wide, heavy based saucepan or pot
A slotted spoon
A tea cup
Paper towel
Ingredients
2 very fresh eggs
Method
1. Bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer.
2. Crack an egg into a tea cup and gently pour it into the simmering water. Repeat with the remaining egg.
You begin with a slippery, runny liquid, do nothing more than add it to hot water, and presto: the liquid rapidly stiffens into a solid (denaturation). This seemingly magic transformation is owed to the eggs proteins and their innate capacity to bond to each other coagulation).
The most important thing when poaching an egg is to start off with a fresh egg. When an egg is super fresh, the albumen (white) will be thicker and hold nice and tightly to the yolk, whereas the albumen of an older egg will be thinner and spread out as soon as it gets in the pot, making a giant mess.
You also want to make sure the water doesn’t boil. If the water boils, the egg will swirl all around and break apart.
3. Simmer the eggs for 2-3 minutes for a semi-soft yolk, or 3-4 minutes for a firm set yolk. Do not stir!
While the egg is cooking, the proteins start out as tightly coiled little balls and as soon as the egg hits the water, they start to spread out and go through a process called denaturation. When we heat the egg, the all its molecules move faster and faster, collide with each other harder and harder, and eventually begin to break the bonds that hold the coiled proteins in their compact shape. They begin to unfold, tangle with each other and bond to each other into a kind of three dimensional networks thus forming a solid. This video does a great job of explaining the scientific process of poaching an egg.
4. Drain your poached egg on some paper towel before serving and season with salt and pepper to taste.