Poached eggs are the perfect weekend dish taking you from breakfast to brunch right through until lunch. However getting your poached egg right can be a challenge, with so many different methods out there claiming to be the best. A chef has shared what she believes to be the “best way” to make a poached egg and it doesn’t require timing your egg while cooking it.
Chef Kelly Scott learned the method while working the brunch service at a restaurant and she says it is “foolproof”.
Kelly explained: “When I used to have to work Sunday brunch service as a chef I used to have to make literally thousands of eggs working on the egg station and I quickly learned the best and worst ways to poach eggs. This way is hands down the best foolproof way to poach an egg.”
To begin, the chef advises first straining your egg before you pop it into the pan of water. “First you’re going to want to crack an egg into a fine mesh strainer,” she said.
“This separates the loose whites from the firm whites making it more uniform. Put it in a tiny bowl and then we are going to get a pot of water up to a simmer and then add a splash of vinegar.”
Kelly continued: “I like to use apple cider vinegar and this just helps the egg stay uniform and form together. Do a very gentle swirl. I see a lot of people basically do a tornado. Don’t do that.
“Do gentle and then slowly lower the egg into the middle. Let it sit there until the whites form and then I like to lift it off the bottom so that it doesn’t stick. I notice the whole time that it’s barely bubbling, like barely simmering.”
Rather than timing your egg while it cooks, Kelly says she has an easier way to determine if your poached egg is perfectly cooked that does not require a timer.
“To test if it’s done all you have to do is lift it out of the water with a slotted spoon and if the whites are firm but the yolk jiggles then it’s ready. If the whites are still jiggling put it back in,” she said. “I don’t really time it, I go off that test because each egg and pot of water are different.
“I then serve it, have it with some seasoning and it’s the perfect poached egg. This method has never failed me. I’ve even done up to ten eggs at a time.”
