I needed to find a good recipe to make poached eggs. Why? Because you need a well made poached egg to make Eggs Benedict. You may also simply like poached eggs with other breakfast foods. You can think of a poached egg as a perfectly made, unbroken soft boiled egg without any shell, and that is very convenient. With poached eggs you don't have to hold and scoop hot egg from hot egg shell halves, always breaking the yolk.
I was lucky to find a nearly perfect recipe from the Internet. I was able to make a perfect poached egg easily the first time around. I am pleased. So I've provided additional detailed instructions in this Food Nirvana recipe to make the process pretty much foolproof.
There are numerous ways to make a poached egg, most methods using some device or small container to hold a raw egg while it is cooking. What sets this recipe apart from the others is the absence of any container and a cooked egg that is completely uniform in degree of doneness, for the raw egg without any shell is immersed in lightly boiling water. That means it is heated evenly everywhere as it floats under the water.
It is necessary to use a fine mesh sieve to allow any runny egg white to flow through it and be discarded before poaching the egg. Otherwise the runny part will separate from the rest of the egg during cooking and form useless wads/strings of cooked egg white in the boiling water, yet typically stay partially connected to the main body of the egg.
Here are the caveats: 1) The fine mesh sieve, if it is too fine, will not let runny egg white through it, so that defeats the purpose of using that particular fine mesh sieve. Find one with slightly larger grid openings. Gently shake the sieve over a sink or a small bowl to help the runny egg white to drip out. This should take about one minute. 2) A jumbo egg and an extra large egg will require more cooking time than a large egg, so allow 3 minutes for a large egg, 3 1/4 minutes for an extra large egg, and 3 1/2 minutes for a jumbo egg.
If you are making only one egg then use the stirring step described below to create a vortex in the water before adding the egg. If you are making multiple eggs at the same time do not create the vortex. Also, initially process each egg in the sieve individually and then put each egg into a separate rameken or small bowl.
Ingredients:
One fresh large, extra large or jumbo egg (or more than one egg [maximum of four at a time], but all of the same size)
1 tbsp. of white or cider vinegar
A large (7" or more in diameter) saucepan with boiling water 4" deep
Other kitchen stuff:
A small ramekin or a small bowl large enough to hold a raw egg.
A fine (but not too fine) mesh sieve with a handle.
A large serving spoon for stirring the lightly boiling water in the saucepan into a vortex.
A large slotted spoon for removing a poached egg from lightly boiling water. Also for removing any unwanted stringy cooked runny egg white.
A kitchen timer
Directions:
Crack the egg into a fine mesh sieve (over a sink or a small bowl), shake the sieve gently, and discard the runny egg white that drips from the sieve.
Carefully transfer/pour the egg into a small ramekin or small bowl. You don't want the yolk to break.
Bring a large saucepan with water 4" deep to a boil on high heat, then reduce the heat to low. You do not want the water to be boiling vigorously when the egg is cooking. If necessary, move the saucepan of boiling water to a small burner turned on to low heat.
Add one tablespoon of either white or cider vinegar to the boiling water in the saucepan and stir the water with the serving spoon to create a vortex. Then remove the spoon from the water.
Pour the egg from the ramekin carefully into the middle of the vortex and set a timer for 3 minutes for a large egg, 3 1/4 minutes for an extra large egg, or 3 1/2 minutes for a jumbo egg.
After the first minute or two, use the large slotted spoon to remove and discard any cooked egg white that is not part of the main body of the egg. It is the stuff that is floating above the egg. It is easy to pull it away from the main body of the egg with the slotted spoon.
Once the egg is done cooking, use the slotted spoon to remove the poached egg from the water, let water drain from the egg for a few seconds, then put it into a small bowl.
Dab any water from the inside of the bowl and from the surface of the egg with a folded paper towel, then use/serve the egg.
Enjoy!