Perfect poached eggs

Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had a problem with poached eggs.  I've watched more than my fair share of cookery programmes and read far, far too many books.  There seem to be so many different ways to achieve the perfect, runny poached egg; whether it's dropping the egg into a rolling simmer, adding vinegar,  creating a swirling vortex of boiling water or coddling it in those horrible poaching pans from the 1970's.  I read one reliable method when I first got into cooking and thanks to (I think she wrote the book I read at the time) St Delia I have never had a problem since.

The secret is always the freshness of the eggs and, as you well know, we're spoilt at the moment by having access to daily lain eggs which I know, beyond any doubt, are the freshest you'll ever get.  It really does make a difference.  Having previously poached eggs this same way I always noticed how they sank to the bottom of the pan.  This was never a problem just an observation.  Using our lovely fresh eggs I notice that they sit, almost float, right at the top of the water; to such an extent that on one occasion I had to baste the yolk with some of the cooking water as it was sitting so proud of the surface it wasn't actually poaching itself at all!

So...to achieve the perfect poached egg.

I fill a large stainless steel frying pan almost to the brim with water and bring this to the boil.  As  it starts to boil I turn the gas down to get a rolling simmer.  Into this I crack the eggs as close to the surface of the water I can get without scalding my fingers.  Another way is to crack the egg into a cup or ramekin first and then gently pour it into the water.  My pan will do four, maybe five, eggs at a time as you need to leave a bit of space between each to stop them sticking together.  As soon as the eggs are in I turn the gas off and let them gently poach in the hot water.  This way you can keep a close eye on them and get them out, drained, and onto a plate when they are just how you want them.  It only takes a few minutes and you can actually test the softness of the yolk with a finger while they are poaching.

I hope this works for you as well as it has worked for me over the years...happy poaching!

By the way...we had ours with Craster kipper cutlets and asparagus with an unseemly amount of brown bread and butter!