Poached egg

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Poached eggs sprinkled with matcha salt, served on sourdough bread.

A poached egg is an egg that has been cooked by poaching. No oil or fat is used in its preparation. Poached eggs are used in Eggs Benedict and Eggs Florentine.

In modern parlance, the term "poached egg" is also applied to a quite different method of preparation, where the egg is suspended in steam (see poached egg (steamed)).

1 Preparation
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Preparation

The egg(s) are cracked into a pan of water that has just boiled (but is not boiling) and simmered until the egg white has mostly congealed, but the yolk remains soft. Most chefs seem to agree that the 'perfect' poached egg has a runny yolk, with a hardening crust and no raw white remaining.^[1]

The essential factor is to use totally fresh eggs; although this may be difficult unless chickens are kept. Broken into boiling water, the white will stay clinging around the yolk, and you will end up with a perfect ball of cooked white and runny yolk. All eggs tend to 'spread', whether frying or poaching, the older they are. Even a week will do this, and it is very difficult to find shop-bought eggs that are fresh. Most commercial eggs, even organic, will be 2-3 weeks old. Hence the need, as outlined below, for vorticēs, cling-film, and the like.

A certain amount of practice is necessary to prevent the white of the egg dispersing into the water. One way to help prevent this effect is to add a small amount of vinegar to the water. It also helps to stir the water vigorously to create a vortex just before dropping the cracked egg into the water, or to break the egg into a cup and lower the lip below the water's surface before releasing. The water should simmer and not boil during cooking as this may also dissipate the egg. It is also possible to buy specialist pans with small cups to allow a number of eggs to be poached at the same time. However, these pans do not truly poach the eggs as they are not immersed in water but are steamed. Other methods of producing poached eggs, such as using cling film to keep the egg perfectly formed have been documented.^[2]

Poached eggs are commonly served over toast, however they are also often used as additions to Corned beef hash.

Poached eggs are the basis for many dishes in the Louisiana Creole cuisine, such as Eggs Sardou, Eggs Portuguese, Eggs Hussarde and Eggs St. Charles. Creole poached egg dishes are typically served for brunches^[3], especially in the weekend brunches of New Orleans restaurants such as Brennan's, Antoine's, Commander's Palace and The Court of Two Sisters. (Recipes for poached egg dishes can be found in the cookbooks published by these restaurants.)