How To Cook Poached Eggs
Looking for a fast and easy source of protein? If so, look no further than to poached eggs. Eggs are a top protein pick for many people as they’re cost effective and so convenient to prepare.
Poaching them gives you flexibility in how you choose to serve them – whether over a slice of Ezekiel bread, on its own, or over top of some grilled asparagus. At under 100 calories per egg, they’re an easy add into your diet plan.
If you aren’t quite sure how to prepare the perfectly poached egg, let’s go over the information that you need to know.
How To Cook Poached Eggs
The very first step in poaching your egg is to make sure that your water is at the right temperature. It can’t be too cold or too hot or you’ll end up with yolks that have separated from the white or an egg that simply explodes in the water – neither of which are going to help you get the final result you’re looking for.
The water should be just lightly bubbling – hot enough that you can see the bubbles forming and creating light peaks in the pot.
Be sure not to make the mistake of adding salt to the water – many people do this and this is one reason why their poached eggs never turn out the way they wish.
Next, take a long slotted spoon and begin to swirl the water with it in a circular manner. This is going to create a path for the egg to follow, forming into the perfect round ball.
Once the water is swirling, take your egg, which has been cracked and placed in a bowl (ever so gently to avoid having the egg break as you transfer it), and then lay it into the water slowly so that it goes in and stays in one piece.
If you wish to make more than one egg, add the second at this time, but do make sure that you are not overcrowding the eggs. If you need to make three or four, make sure you have a large enough pot to do so. Cooking two at once is the limit you should use if you want perfectly poached eggs as it’ll be easier to tend to them as they cook.
Which brings us to the next step. You don’t want your eggs to sink to the bottom of the pot as it’s extra hot down there and will increase the chances they don’t cook to perfection.
So instead, take your slotted spoon again and cradle them as they cook, keeping them moving in a circular motion.
Do this for two minutes if you wish to have runny eggs or three minutes for a medium egg. If you want your eggs as firm as possible, set the timer for four minutes instead.
Once the time is up, remove them from the water with your slotted spoon and then place them on a piece of paper towel and blot ever so gently. This will remove any excess water that’s sitting in their edges, which will not produce the desirable taste you’re after.
From there, serve immediately – don’t let them sit. Poached eggs taste best when freshly prepared.
So there you have the basic steps to prepare a poached egg.
Other Ways To Prepare Them
If you’re short on time and want a simpler method, you can also choose to microwave your poached eggs as well, which requires less total work and when done right, can produce just as desirable of an effect. In addition to this, you can also hard boil an egg, do them over easy, or prepare scrambled eggs or omelets with them instead.
