`Perfect` poached eggs – especially for large groups
Breakfast is not my specialty. I don`t love eating it and that personal ambiguity converts into my cooking ability for all things morning. I`m on a personal mission to alter that and become competent for morning food.
Poached eggs have eluded me. I have tried large pots, small pots, vinegar, egg rings, fast boils, a low simmer and hardly a boil at all. I have drained the runny white, prayed to the egg gods and more. I usually end up with a small bit of poached egg and a large amount of egg white soup.
That changed yesterday:
Greenhouse tomatoes from Ontario, pickled peameal and eggs. Yum.
We started off by boiling water in the kettle and lightly oiling the muffin tins. We then placed them in the oven. I played with the temperature by baking between 450 and 500 and kept my eye on them – the water did return to a boil within the muffin cups.
They came out of the tray with a slotted spoon very easily.
The obvious disadvantage is the amount of energy used by the oven. I am curious as to placing a smaller amount of eggs like this directly on a burner or placing the tin in a frying pan similar to a double boiler.
Cooking for larger groups would be a cinch.
I`m not sure that this would be a technique I`d use every weekend but I`m encouraged to finally have something that looks like a poached egg (and not mostly poached egg yolk).
Comments
MMmm I love poached eggs. My mother used to make them in this specially designed tray that came with her pot set, where you could pop out the little cups. I wonder if they still exist!
They do still exist. Williams Sonoma sells one and I’m sure other kitchen specialty shops would as well.
This is a very clever idea! I love poached eggs but making them for everyone is a pain. Lee Valley also sells silicon cups that you can float in boiling water – they work ok, but getting the eggs out can be a bit of a challenge. Now how on earth do you pickle peameal??
Saide,
I cheated. I bought it that way.
I had thought it was just a funny term for brined – i.e. soaked in salted water. There was definately vinegar in the brine though – likely about 3-5% and soaked for a few days before removing.
Ruhlman (he wrote a great book called Charcuterie) actually adores brining in a slightly acid bath like this. You don’t store it for a prolonged period (like a pickle suspended in the vinegar) but you just let it take the flavors on).
Smiles,
Joel
So you oil the tins, crack and egg and pour in and then add water on top? could you provide alittle more in depth on the step by step?
thanks!
Absolutely Drew…
I boiled the water and poured it (boiling) into lightly oiled tins (I used some leftover real-oil spray I had). I left room for the eggs. I cracked the eggs and placed it into a preheated oven.
From there I played with the heat and monitored for the texture I was looking for.
I think a lower heat and longer time would have produced an interesting result as well and I could have cooked them a little less.
If I were to repeat (and I will), I would also use the middle tins so any excess water would leak into the tins on the outside. A cookie tray would do as well. I didn’t have any spillage but it would be a safeguard…
Does that help?
totally…thanks a ton!
Good stuff Drew, let us know how it goes and if you do anything differently!
Joel
I don’t think you have a hope of not losing egg white when using a pot of simmering water. I have resorted to using a poached egg pan over a pan of simmering water. I need to use a little veg spray or they refuse to release from the cup. We get some great peameal bacon from a local butcher up here (Stayner). I have been told its not too hard to make yourself.
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I too have tried many times to poach eggs to no avail. This looks so perfect for weekends at the cottage my MIL loves to poach eggs but sadly only get 5 or 6 done at a time, which is not enough for our crew and cold poached eggs are gross!
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