The versatile poached egg! Serve it hot in an artichoke cup, or crowned with béarnaise atop a tenderloin steak, or glittering in aspic, or gracing a curly endive salad, or buried in a soufflé, or dressed as a Benedict, or simply sitting on a warm, crisp, buttery piece of toast for breakfast. It’s a graceful oval, whose white is softly set and whose yolk is thickly liquid. If we could have them fresh from the hen they would literally poach by themselves, since a really fresh egg holds its shape when dropped into simmering water. But most of us have to take certain steps to assure success, using either vinegared water or oval metal egg-poachers (which you can buy in some cookware shops).
Ingredients
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Preparation
Step 1
To Help the Egg Keep. Using a pushpin, pierce a hole 1/4 inch deep in the large end of the egg to release the air pocket (otherwise the egg will crack). To help the egg keep its shape, lower not more than 4 eggs at a time into a pan of rapidly boiling water. Boil for exactly 10 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon.
Step 2
Vinegared Water. To poach up to 6 eggs, bring 1 1/2 quarts of water and 1/4 cup white vinegar (which helps the white to coagulate) to the simmer in a saucepan 8 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep. Have a kitchen timer and slotted spoon at hand. One by one, starting near the pan handle and moving clockwise, hold the egg as close to the surface as possible, and break it into the water. Rapidly continue with the rest. Maintain the water at the simmer and poach exactly 4 minutes—the white should be softly set and the yolk liquid. Clockwise from the handle of the pan, remove the eggs one by one with the perforated spoon, and drop into a basin of cold water to wash off the vinegar.
Step 3
Poaching in the Perforated Oval Metal Container. Set the poachers in a pan of simmering water to cover, drop in the pierced, 10-second-boiled eggs, and poach at the simmer for exactly 4 minutes, as described above. Remove the poachers and dislodge the eggs carefully with a soup spoon.
Step 4
Eggs May Be Poached a Day or Two in Advance. Submerge in fresh cold water and refrigerate uncovered.
Step 5
To Serve Cold. Store as above, or chill for 10 minutes in ice water. Remove one by one with a slotted spoon, and roll over a clean towel to blot off water.
Step 6
To Serve Hot. Lower chilled eggs into a pan of lightly salted simmering water and let warm up for 1 minute, then remove.
Variations
Step 7
EGGS BENEDICT. Toast and butter English-muffin halves or crustless circles of brioche bread (which I prefer, since I find the muffins tough and hard to cut). Top each toast with a round of sautéed ham, a warm poached egg, and hollandaise sauce (page 13). Then, if you are feeling luxurious, slide on a warm, buttery slice of black truffle.
Step 8
SOUFFLÉ VENDÔME. Arrange 4 toasted and buttered French-bread rounds (see page 7) in a 6-cup baking dish, and top with 4 cold poached eggs. Cover with the cheese soufflé on page 71, and bake as directed. This dish always amazes your guests, and the eggs emerge perfectly done.
Step 9
SALAD OF CURLY ENDIVE WITH BACON AND POACHED EGGS. See page 18.