The Way The Chicken Would Prefer It: Poached Eggs

Eggs are effing fantastic. I'll take them anyway I can get them: scrambled, fried, runny, with soldiers, in an omelette, boiled...I could go on and on and I'm starting to think breakfast for dinner is the best idea I've had all day.

I cook poached eggs a lot. I learned how to poach them from my mother and she still cooks them for me when I visit.
A good poached egg should be round (no trailing bits) with a thick, molasses like yolk (no thin, runny liquid). A cloud filled with sunshine, delicious sunshine.
The two rules to good poached eggs are:

1. Use fresh eggs - the older they are the more the whites deteriorate and the more likely they are to trail off the main body in the pan rather than come together all pretty like in a globe shape.
2. Vinegar - yeah. Vinegar. Mr egg doesn`t mix with Mr vinegar. They get an oil and water thing going on and the presence of vinegar in the water causes the yolk to stick together. It will not flavor the final product.

Poached eggs

Eggs, fresh

White vinegar, 1 Tbsp for the pot and 1 Tbsp for each egg

Method:

• Get a deep pot of water on full rolling boil and add the Tbsp of vinegar, turn down to medium high.
• Crack each egg into its own little ramekin or bowl and (5 mins before cooking) pour a Tbsp of vinegar over each egg. Swish it around to make sure the vinegar gets around the egg. This will firm up the yolk.
• With a wooden spoon, give the water a couple of good stirs to create a vortex in the water and then slowly lower an egg into the middle. The egg should cook about 2 mins.
• Lift the egg out with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towel.
• Repeat the last three steps with any other eggs you are cooking.

Making more than a couple of eggs or making them in advance:

• Cook the eggs as above, one at a time but only for about 1 min 45 serconds (about 90% of what you want, just about there) and then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking.
• When they are cooled, lift them out carefully and trim (make them look pretty)
• Store them in the ice bath until you are ready to use them, maximum 24 hours. When you are ready to serve simply put on a pot of simmering water and reheat each egg (you can do multiples in one pan now) for about 30 seconds each.
• This is a great way to make breakfast for a crowd as you can do the prep well before and simply reheat.