A few of you might remember the first ever video I posted on the channel where my cooking journey all started, and that was making a poached egg on toast. It can’t have gone too badly since I’m still around now!
What you might not know is that my good mate Gary now lives in my old house, oh yes, the one where I filmed that very video! And let’s just say he’s not an eggspert in the cooking department, so we thought it would be a bit of fun to get back in that kitchen and get him to give a poached egg a try.
To be fair, he had a good crack at it, but his version was, let’s just say a little overcooked and um…vinegary?!
If you want to have a go at making the perfectly poached egg with a runny yolk and no vinegary smell, I’ve got some eggceptional tips below:
How To Make the Perfect Poached Egg
To start with, you’ll want to find the freshest eggs you can find for poaching to help them keep their integrity better.
Fill a pan about half full with water then let it come to a very gentle simmer. The best tip I’ve been given for poaching an egg is not to let the water bubble really as it can disturb the egg.
The vinegar is optional – it can help to bond the egg together somewhat, but, as we quickly discovered in this video, it can give the egg a distinctive and foul taste! So, and I’m not yolking here, you just want a splash of vinegar in the pan.
Give the water a bit of a whirl for that awesome vortex effect which again, might help the egg to stay together, and maybe had the added fun of being a bit swirly too!
Now this is key – turn your heat off. You heard me, turn it off!
Grab a little ramekin and crack your egg into it, then you can use this instead of one of our fancy egg poaching gadgets (sorry Gaz!) to slide that egg into the just simmered water. Then whack a lid on that pan and leave the egg alone for 3-4 minutes, the perfect amount of time to toast your bread.
When the toast pops up, butter it if you want, then use a slotted spoon to remove your egg from the pan and plop it on top of the toast. Finish with a sprinkle of pepper and a glug of olive oil, then cut open to reveal that beautiful runny yolk.
…Or leave it in the pan for 10 minutes to keep warm if you prefer your poached egg a little more solid like Gary!