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I have perfected poached eggs

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I haven't poached eggs myself, so this will be a good tip - but I've frequently had poached eggs at home.

Poached eggs over a few slices of toast = simple and delicious breakfast (or dinner - or whenever! 🙂)

Anyone got any good tips, or Alton Brown suggestions or what have you, for a good Eggs Benedict? In other words - a great tip for amazing Hollandaise sauce. That is something I have never had, unless my memory is failing me at the moment. Seems like a key component, and reading the general mix of ingredients, sounds absolutely delicious. Can I make a meal of hollandaise sauce on its own? 😀
Is that something people have make crepes with, by chance? I feel like I have seen that listed, but I just don't know. But for some reason, I've seen it on menus at restaurants and steered clear, because apparently I've had it confused with who the hell knows what, and thought I wouldn't like it. But... now I know it would be absolutely impossible to not like. 🙂



All that said... I haven't been able to agree that Poached Eggs are THE way to serve eggs. I mean, they are delicious. But... there's something about eggs served over easy on a variety of things. I think it's something poached or over easy would work well with, but over easy placed on biscuits, and then doused in sausage gravy? ugh delicious.
dammit I want breakfast!


Also - aside from the fact that over easy eggs will always be delicious, and if anything, at least on an equal footing with poached... another absolutely key style of eggs is scrambled done properly.
Since watching a youtube clip of Alton Brown doing scrambled on Good Eats, I've been a convert. Every description I just thought of seems like a disservice, also probably because I haven't made them in awhile so I just can't describe them.
But I watched Ramsay do some scrambled eggs, and they just seemed all kinds of wrong after falling in love with AB's scrambled approach. So much awesome flavor in the eggs - it almost seems too fancy and rich - that apparently all that sciencey talk in the show about proteins and coagulation and deliciousness apparently turns out to be quite apt!
 
Carson Dyle said:
The vinegar is absolutely key. I use a little more. I also try not to use too much water - only about 2-2.5" deep.

The key to great eggs Benedict is great Hollandaise sauce. The rest should be cooking as mastered by 4th graders.
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The vinegar is a must.

Hollandaise is simple. I used to do the classic double-boiler method with a whisk until I learned the food processor way. Put 2 egg yolks and a tablespoon of lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse a few times until it begins an emulsion. Turn on the food processor and slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of hot clarified butter. Finish with a pinch of salt and cayenne. Comes out perfect every time.
 
This thread brought to you by the makers of Lipitor.
AccPM-Lipitor-logo.jpg


Don't forget to crush some Lipitor in a mortar and pestle and sprinkle some into your Hollandaise sauce.
 
disappoint said:
This thread brought to you by the makers of Lipitor.
AccPM-Lipitor-logo.jpg


Don't forget to crush some Lipitor in a mortar and pestle and sprinkle some into your Hollandaise sauce.
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The cholesterol you eat is not the cholesterol that ends up in your arteries. Your body makes its own. So enjoy the eggs.
 
Now you just have to perfect hollandaise sauce and you can make eggs benedict.

It is a tradition that I make my wife seafood eggs benedict for Mother's Day every year and I do make the hollandaise sauce myself. Just substitute crab meat and baby shrimp for Canadian bacon. It is really tasty.

But yeah, poached eggs are fantastic. :thumbsup:
 
zanejohnson said:
quiet boy, i'm sure we had these same types of conversations our whole lives.
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What are you talking about? The Lipitor is not for you, you'd probably just try to snort it.

IronWing said:
The cholesterol you eat is not the cholesterol that ends up in your arteries. Your body makes its own. So enjoy the eggs.
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If you don't mind I'd like to get my medical advice from an actual medical doctor and nutritionist.

What made you 2 think I was being serious? I thought it would be obvious pharmaceuticals are not ingredients used in cooking food.


I have enjoyed eggs benedict for years. I used the vinegar method, mentioned earlier in the thread by someone and it works well. I toast some bread in the toaster, cook some ham in a skillet and serve it over that. I don't like hollandaise sauce (not because of cholesterol) so I make a sort of hollandaise substitute. I mix a bit of mustard into some mayonnaise then add capers. Don't knock it till you've tried it, but if you're a hollandaise fan, to each their own.

I also like using smoked salmon in place of ham sometimes. Enjoy your food however you like it and Have fun!😛
 
spidey07 said:
I can cook eggs any which way and make them perfectly. It's one cooking thing I can do really, really well. That being said I could never poach an egg. They always fell apart and never really got that beautiful, perfect pocket of egg white surrounding a yummy runny yolk.

I had seen techniques of using a large pot of water and stirring the water to make a vortex and then just dumping the egg in. Well hot damn, that works AWESOME! After all these years of never getting a good poached egg, it was really just that simple. Here's a few tips I've learned over the last few weeks trying to perfect it.

1) Fresh eggs really do make a difference, the fresher the better. The whites really hold together.
2) Lots of salt in the water, water just barely boiling. This is the key, the temperature of the water and why the salt helps to raise the boiling point slightly. I always tried to poach eggs on a high simmer, that's not enough heat to get the whites to "set". The hotter the water the better
3) Get a gentle swirl going, just enough without a vortex
4) Drop the egg in and don't touch it
5) Use a slotted spoon to take out after about 3 minutes, whites should be fully set, place on paper towel and handle to remove excess water. Do not let sit on paper towel or whites will stick. Oh, and handle gently.

Done properly the whites are not runny and the yolk is perfectly oozy yummy. The taste is out of this world and unlike any other method of preparing an egg.

You will wind up with a perfect "pillow" of a poached egg.

Serve over toast and sausage, or anything for that matter.

The biggest lesson learned is water temperature. If it's not right at boiling or boiling the whole process won't take and the whites run everywhere and the egg takes forever to cook. I've got it now where I can drop 2-3 eggs in and cook them all at the same time.
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i sort of like poached eggs but dont have the patience. ill do an omelette or fry them first, most of the time.

but my friends and i have come up with a fantastic heart attack of a breakfast:

biscuits and sausage gravy, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise. it is evil.

fortunately, a blender hollandaise takes less than 5 minutes so as long as i can get someone to poach eggs for me, ill make the biscuits and gravy and were in pretty good shape.
 
xSauronx said:
i sort of like poached eggs but dont have the patience. ill do an omelette or fry them first, most of the time.

but my friends and i have come up with a fantastic heart attack of a breakfast:

biscuits and sausage gravy, topped with poached eggs and hollandaise. it is evil.

fortunately, a blender hollandaise takes less than 5 minutes so as long as i can get someone to poach eggs for me, ill make the biscuits and gravy and were in pretty good shape.
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Sounds pretty good really, all of my favorite things on one plate.

Here's my dad's tip for a perfect soft boiled egg:

Pot with 1/2" of water, boiling
Put cold eggs into boiling water, cover and reduce to a slow boil.
Take out after 6 minutes, put eggs in ice water for a few minutes
Eat

The eggs steam in their own shell and the small amount of boiling water helps cook the whites.
 
I need to try poached. Will have to see if this better than sunny side up in an iron skillet with bacon grease and buttered toast.
 
TXHokie said:
I need to try poached. Will have to see if this better than sunny side up in an iron skillet with bacon grease and buttered toast.
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It's different. All you taste is the egg and the texture can't be compared and is totally different from a fried egg.

A good poached egg is silky, nothing but egg taste. And the yolk? Pure heaven.
 
That sounds soo good. I wanna try making some eggs benedict now. Gonna give the soup feature on my vitamix a trial. Supposedly the blades can spin so fast that you can heat up soup with it.
 
spidey07 said:
Sounds pretty good really, all of my favorite things on one plate.

Here's my dad's tip for a perfect soft boiled egg:

Pot with 1/2" of water, boiling
Put cold eggs into boiling water, cover and reduce to a slow boil.
Take out after 6 minutes, put eggs in ice water for a few minutes
Eat

The eggs steam in their own shell and the small amount of boiling water helps cook the whites.
Click to expand...

as much as i love eggs....i never really cared for boiled eggs at all.

anyway, its awesome. over vacation half the sausage we used was chorizo. dear god...it was glorious.
 
Poached two and it came out pretty good. But I did have problem with some of the egg whites floating and getting foamy. Next time I'll use a strainer all I had on hand was a fork.

Whoops I also forgot the vortex. But did use vinegar.
 
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I downed half a stick of butter and three eggs, for my eggs benedict, and it was so incredibly scrumptious.

I forgot to put in the vinegar, but it came out ok.

eggsbenedict.jpg
 
GWestphal said:
According to America's Test Kitchen you bring water to a boil, then take it off the burner and gently place the egg in for 3-4 mins.
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That's about how I do it, IDK why OP thinks swirling the water around will do anything but help separate the yolk from the white, no need for ANY swirling IMO..
 
Steps to perfect poached eggs.

1. Wife
2. Eat

Anything else makes you a sucker.

Edit: Or just buy an immersion circulator and own any temperature sensitive meal known to man.
 
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