The Perfect Poached Egg...What's Your Method?
 

We have chickens, so we eat eggs. Poached is my favorite style of cooking them. A lot of people say that they have trouble poaching eggs and there's all kinds of contraptions out there to, "help make it easier." Personally, I find it's the easiest way...just a pot of water, no fat used, easy clean up. Here's my method:

Start a pot, or sauce pan of water on high. Add some salt. When the water starts to simmer, swirl it around with a large, slotted spoon and crack the eggs into the center vortex of the "whirlpool." Turn the heat down so that the water doesn't boil, just simmers. Cook the eggs for about 2-3 minutes. (They're ready when the whites are opaque and they no longer jiggle loosely.) Left them out carefully with the slotted spoon.

~ C

I only have three little banties left of our flock. I'd love to get more but we travel now and don't want to loose the lady we have who looks in on them, I think a 'flock' would scare her off.

Rob has a pan with four dishes which makes the prettiest poached eggs on toast. But we used to drop them in water ;) Not much of an egg eater myself.

We are down to 12 chickens now. Seems like they just "die off" at times for unknown reasons. We get (on average) about 6 eggs a day (when the snakes don't get them...:hunf:). We always have enough to give away. We seldom make poached eggs but when we do we make them like you except for the "whirlpool". Growing up we only had poached eggs when one of us kids were sick so I sort of relate to eating them on occasions when I don't feel real well.

If it is just me I do the pan method as described, I add about 1 tbl vinegar to the water.

If there needs to be multiple eggs, I do it in a deep skillet and I crack the eggs into custard cups or other cups first so I can slip them in one right after the other so they finish together. Can do 4-6 at a time this way and my pan has a clear lid so I can watch the progress. They don't cook in the containers, it's just to speed the cracking process.

I,love poached eggs but have never been successful at making them myself. And I’ve rarely had a decent poached egg in a restaurant - they usually come out with the yolk cooked too much. So I make or get a sunny side up egg gooey and then flip it onto a piece of toast. Works great and restaurants can do a nice gooey one. My mom apparently never could make them either but she did make soft boiled eggs which I remember scooping out of the shell - yum!!! I think the word “gooey” is a Pennsylvania Dutch word as I’m originally from York, PA - land of dippy eggs.

I have an egg poacher I've had for years. I Love poached eggs (and over easy and hard boiled. etc):)

I put a butter in a nonstick skillet add water and get it to steam. I crack an egg in the water, cover for about 2 - 3 min. Done to perfection. This is the way I was taught to do 'poached' eggs in a gourmet cooking class I took. If the eat in shell egg was desired then the bill went way way up. LOL

I have an egg poacher too - so much easier.

I have a poacher. My Mom always made them for us when we were sick. Just the thought of them makes me feel happy!
She had a poacher too but many times just made them in boiling water.