The best way to crack a perfect poached egg
- Food writer Anne Shooter tries out a new method for perfect poached eggs
- READ MORE: Why cream liqueurs aren’t just for Christmas
Poached eggs have never been more in vogue, with Instagram full of smooth, glossy, firm whites being pierced to reveal pools of golden yolk that spill on to beds of smashed avocado.
Now, a new method said to create the perfect one has been flying around the internet, involving cracking your eggs into a bowl of cold, diluted vinegar before cooking them in a saucepan of barely simmering water.
So, does it work? Or can one of these gizmos do it better? Food writer ANNE SHOOTER cracks on to find out . . .
DILUTED VINEGAR
HOW TO DO IT: I have been poaching eggs with vinegar in a saucepan of simmering water for years. But it’s hard to get consistently perfectly-shaped poached eggs.
Instagram is full of smooth, glossy, firm whites being pierced to reveal pools of golden yolk that spill on to beds of smashed avocado
Food writer Anne Shooter tries out a new method that’s been flying around the internet, which involves cracking your eggs into a bowl of cold, diluted vinegar before cooking them in a saucepan of barely simmering water
So I was curious to try this method, made famous on a YouTube video, viewed more than 14.4 million times, from the American TV channel Food Network.
As instructed, I put 500ml cold water in a bowl and added 250ml white wine vinegar mixed with cider vinegar. I cracked in a couple of eggs and waited. In a couple of minutes, a visible membrane started to form around the eggs, so I could scoop them up with a spoon and pop them into my pan of almost simmering water, where they cooked for a few minutes.
DID IT WORK? Yes! My poached eggs were perfect — smooth and oval, with firm whites and runny yolks. 10/10
AIR FRYER
Sadly, poaching eggs in the air fryer wasn’t a success – Anne had poached eggs but they looked awful
HOW TO DO IT: I love my two-drawer air fryer (£99.99, lakeland.co.uk), particularly for crispy vegetables, moist salmon and mouthwatering chicken. But eggs? I wasn’t sure.
Plenty of TikTok videos show people cracking eggs into ramekins or silicon holders that have been brushed with oil, pouring hot water over them, then cooking them in the air fryer for a few minutes, with amazing results. So that’s what I did.
DID IT WORK? I had poached eggs but they looked awful. The water evaporated fast so the top of the eggs went crispy. They were tricky to get out of the silicone holders I had ordered on Amazon. 4/10
THE MICROWAVE
HOW TO DO IT: I ordered a two-egg poacher from Amazon (£7.29). I filled the outer reservoir with water, greased the ‘colanders’ with oil, cracked in the eggs, pushed the lid on and popped it in the microwave for three minutes.
DID IT WORK? There was a loud bang as the timer pinged and I opened the door to find a mess of egg particles and water. I tried again, checking every 30 seconds and after two and a half minutes, when the whites had set, I took them out. The yolks seemed to cook at the same time as the whites so they were firm all the way through. 3/10
THE DOUBLE ‘LADLE’
The double ‘ladle’ method worked well – the eggs were a good shape and had firm whites and soft yolks
HOW TO DO IT: This jolly yellow gadget made by Eddingtons (£8.50, sainsburys.co.uk) looks like two perforated ladles on a stem. I greased it, cracked the eggs in and hung it over the side of my pan of simmering water. It’s easy to check how they are doing by lifting the poacher and having a little prod, so you are guaranteed they will be cooked to your liking.
DID IT WORK? Yes. This was really easy to use and the eggs were a good shape and had firm whites and soft yolks. It only drops points because you need a particularly deep pan to use this properly and who can be bothered to wash up a large pan just to poach a couple of eggs? 8/10
EGG-POACHING BAGS
Jamie Oliver’s egg-poaching hack didn’t come out on top – the yolks were a little firm and the shape was a bit scraggy
HOW TO DO IT: Jamie Oliver has an egg-poaching hack where he wraps the raw eggs in cling film and this is like a less plasticky, less tricky take on that.
There are various versions of these little paper pockets but I used the Poachies product (£2.32 for 20, amazon.co.uk).
You perch them in a cup or glass, crack the eggs in, then lift them and drop them into simmering water, pinching the top edges as you do so. I thought they might split but they’re sturdier than they look. You can’t see the eggs through the paper so you have to guess when they are ready.
DID IT WORK? I need to get used to the timings because after five minutes, as the packaging advised, the yolks were a little firm. Also, the shape was a bit scraggy for my liking. 5/10
EGG FUNNELS
HOW TO DO IT: I had high hopes for these silicone gizmos made by Good Grips (£11.99, souschef.co.uk).
They look like eggcups with a solid bit on top and an inverted perforated ‘cage’ below.
You stand them in a pan of simmering water, then crack the eggs into the top.
They then fall through, into the perforated chamber below, and cook in there.
DID IT WORK? One toppled over, which was probably my fault for allowing the water to simmer too vigorously. They did the job of holding the eggs in place but they are big and take up rather too much drawer space to get a permanent place in my kitchen. 6/10
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