Poached Eggs

by Kay Novy

Title

Poached Eggs

Artist

Kay Novy

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

A top finisher in "Cooked Egg" contest in (Epicurean Photography) group.

The egg is cracked into a cup or bowl of any size, and then gently slid into a pan of simmering water and cooked until the egg white has mostly solidified, but the yolk remains soft. The 'perfect' poached egg has a runny yolk, with a hardening crust and no raw white remaining.

Eggs for poaching should be fresh, although newly laid eggs need to be at least 24 hours old; otherwise the white will separate from the yolk.[2] Broken into simmering water, the white will cling to the yolk, resulting in cooked egg white and runny yolk.

To prevent dispersion of the white of the egg, it can be strained before-hand, removing the parts of the white that are likely to disperse and creating a perfect, compact poached egg every time, with very little effort and without resorting to other risky methods such as vinegar.[3]

Another method states that a small amount of vinegar may be added to the boiling water.[4] However, this technique is risky, as one may add too much vinegar into the water, resulting in a dry egg and an acidic taste. Stirring the water vigorously to create a vortex may also reduce dispersion.[5]

Special pans, with several small cups, allow a number of eggs to be poached at the same time. These were a popular utensil for many years but the resultant rubbery texture and "bun-shaped" eggs they produced saw their popularity fade as TV shows and books - especially those on traditional French cooking as exemplified by Julia Child and Elizabeth David - revived interest in basic domestic cookery techniques. Other methods of producing poached eggs, such as using cling film to keep the egg perfectly formed have been documented.[6]

Cooking time varies from about two and a half minutes if the eggs begin at room temperature, about three minutes if taken from a refrigerator. The exact time depends on the size of the egg, and other factors such as altitude and the design of the poaching apparatus. Dipping the eggs into cold water for a few seconds immediately after taking them out of the boiling water helps prevent over-cooking.

In order to overcome the difficulties of poaching eggs in water, egg poaching bags were patented by inventor Howard Gold in 2011. Egg poaching bags are egg-shaped bags made from infusion paper, which allows the water to contact the egg, while ensuring the egg does not disperse into the water while cooking. This method does not require any vinegar and does not require special skill in order to achieve a traditional poached egg. The cooking time should be approx 5 minutes with egg poaching bags.

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February 28th, 2015

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