Actually very easy

Poached eggs

The beliefA poached egg is assumed to need a whirlpool, lots of vinegar and luck.

The truthWhat decides a poached egg is how fresh the egg is and whether the water is kept off the boil. At 80–90 °C a fresh egg takes three minutes.

10 minutes

How to make it

What you need

2 fresh eggs, no more than 5 days old
1.5 litres of water
1 tablespoon of vinegar, optional
A fine sieve and a slotted spoon

How the engine read this list (3 lines)

100 g	Fresh eggs	egg
1500 g	Poaching water	water
15 g	Vinegar optional	vinegar

An empty weight means that line could not be turned into grams — either the amount is open ("to taste") or the ingredient has no record here. Neither enters the sum as zero; they do not enter it at all.

Heat the water in a wide pan, then turn it down: small bubbles on the bottom, a trembling surface, no boil (80–90 °C).
Crack an egg into the fine sieve and give it thirty seconds for the watery white to run off.
Hold the sieve close to the water and slide the egg in gently. Repeat with the second egg.
Cook three minutes. Lift one out with the slotted spoon and press it gently: the white should be firm, the yolk soft.
Blot it on kitchen paper for ten seconds and serve straight away.

Why it works

Egg white has two layers: the thick white around the yolk and a thin, watery white outside it. As an egg ages, thick white turns into thin, so a week-old egg has less of it. That thin white is why a poached egg falls apart: the moment it hits the water it spreads into ragged wisps. Draining the egg in a fine sieve for thirty seconds first gets rid of it and leaves a neat egg behind. The water temperature is the second variable. A rolling boil shakes the egg apart; at 80–90 °C, with small bubbles on the bottom and a trembling surface, the white sets calmly. A tablespoon of vinegar per litre lowers the pH so the outside of the white sets faster, but with a fresh, drained egg it is unnecessary and too much leaves a sour taste. After three minutes the white has set and the yolk is still runny.

The rough sum

1600 grams going in

143 kcal in total

100% of the mass has figures behind it. This is the sum of what GOES IN rather than of what comes out. Wherever something evaporates, drains or ferments the two differ: a kilo of milk is 150 g of cheese.

Diets it qualifies for

Gluten-free Vegetarian Lactose-free

Storage & shelf life

How long it keeps

In iced water, then the fridge: 1 day
Reheating: 1 minute in water at 60–70 °C
Room temperature: No more than 2 hours

Restaurants poach eggs ahead, move them into iced water and warm them in hot water to order. At home the same trick saves a crowded breakfast. But an egg with a runny yolk counts as not fully cooked: keep it no more than a day and do not serve it to vulnerable groups.

When to bin it A bad smell or a sticky surface: throw it out.

History

Where it comes from

The name comes from the French “pocher”, to put in a pocket: the white wraps the yolk like one. Eggs cooked in water appear even in Roman recipes, but the modern breakfast classic dates from eggs Benedict in late nineteenth-century New York. In Turkish cooking the same egg is the heart of çılbır, on garlic yoghurt under sizzling butter; çılbır is said to have been cooked in the Ottoman palace kitchen since the fifteenth century.

The knack

For young children, pregnant people, older adults and anyone with a weakened immune system, cook it five minutes until the yolk has set, or use pasteurised eggs.
No more than 3–4 eggs in the pan at once: more drops the water below 70 °C.

The pantry