Introduction: Batch Preparing Poached Eggs | Cooking With Benji

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About: I am an amateur cook that loves nothing more than sharing my passion for cooking with other people. I taught myself to cook and certainly no stranger to a number of kitchen disasters. This however is okay, whe…

Poached eggs baffle a lot of people at the best of times but they are actually very simple make. If you want to make lots of them for a dinner party or perhaps you are making breakfast for the whole family it can difficult to cook them all perfectly and make sure that they are still hot upon serving.

When you have your batch prepared poached eggs you can reheat them in 20 - 30 seconds leaving you with a perfectly cooked eggs and hot in no time.

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Step 1: Ingredients

This couldn't be any simpler and all you actually need is really fresh eggs but here we use some white wine vinegar to stabilise the white of the egg. We use ice water to stop the cooking process.

You will need:

  • How ever many eggs you want to poach
  • Splash of white wine vinegar
  • Ice cubes in water

Step 2: Getting the Water Just Right

A lot of the time when people have poached egg disasters it is because they have the water boiling too ferociously, eggs are delicate and you want to cook them gently.

Start by bringing a kettle of water to the boil - just quicker than waiting for water to boil on the hob. With a large heavy bottomed pan on a low to medium heat, pour the water in. You want the water to be just simmering, not bubbling away like crazy just a nice gentle simmer.

To this we add a dash of white wine vinegar, not too much otherwise the eggs will have an acidic taste and we don't want that. You don't actually really need the vinegar if your eggs are VERY fresh (as in around 1 day old) but the vinegar stabilises the whites and it doesn't hurt to use it.

Step 3: Gently Handling the Eggs

You can just crack the egg straight into the water and that would work but it is so much better to take your time and make the extra effort to gently place the egg in the water.

Get yourself a small cup and crack the egg into it, this will enable you to slowly and gently tip it into the simmering water so you don't get a long stringy tail of egg white.

Before putting the egg in the water it helps to stir the water with a spoon to create a little vortex, as you tip the egg in, it will be sucked into the middle of the pan an the whites will immediately start to solidify together giving you a nice pearl of a poached egg.

Step 4: Get the Ice Ready

Your egg will not take very long to cook so while it is poaching on it merry way (only 3 - 4 minutes) get a bowl of ice water ready and set to one side. The ice water is the secret to this batch preparing of the eggs and will stop the cooking enabling you avoid a tough over cooked egg when reheating.

Step 5: Stop the Cooking

Check you egg, by taking it out the water with a slotted spoon, with your finger gently press the yolk - not too hard though, you don't want to break it. When the egg is just tender and offers just a little resistance, white all over it is ready. You will know when it is done just by touching it - cooking is all about feeling what you are doing.

Dunk the egg straight into the ice water to stop the cooking, then repeat the process for how ever many eggs you need. Don't be afraid to handle the eggs with your hands if you are worried about breaking them. Drain the eggs off and put to one side until you want to reheat them, typically this can be done a day in advance.

Step 6: Timing to Perfection - Reheating

When you want to reheat the eggs is it as simple as submersing them in gently simmering water for 20 - 30 seconds, it is important to remember that you are now not cooking them - only warming them through. So as soon as they are warm, get them out of the water otherwise you will over cook them.

Step 7: Finishing Off - Awesome Status

Serve your eggs with what ever you like and don't forget the obligatory grind of fresh black pepper on top to finish.

If you use this tip your friends and family will be in awe that you have managed to get loads of perfectly poached eggs out all at the same time - little will they know it is super simple and you will get an awesome status and who doesn't want that.

Enjoy :)