A poached egg is pretty much good on anything. (We went for the boring toasted bread with sautéed onions.)Apparently, some people are nervous about poaching eggs. Maybe our aesthetic standards are too low, but so far we've had no trouble making them, thanks to a couple of recipes.
It appears that using shallow water (2in/5cm) is important. And the vinegar helps the eggs to stay together. But otherwise it is really nothing tricky. Our large sauté pan, filled almost to the brim, could handle four eggs at a time.
Bring the water to a boil, adding salt and vinegar at some point. In the meantime, break each egg into its own bowl or cup and, when the water is boiling, gently lower each one into the water. Turn off the heat and cover the pan. (Alternatively, you can keep the pan open and reduce the heat to a faint simmer.) After about 2 minutes (more like 3 in our experience) the yolks will be runny and after 4-5 they will be firm. Fish out the eggs with a slotted spoon and optionally rinse off the vinegar taste in a bowl of water.
There is a technique for reducing the amount of stray egg white strands that involves stirring a large pot of boiling water into a vortex, but we haven't tried it yet.
- 2in/5cm water
- 1 Tbsp vinegar
- pinch of salt
- eggs, in bowls