How do you like your eggs in the morning? If you like yours poached, perhaps on a bed of avocado, then you’re in luck, because a chef shared the way to properly poach eggs, and it involves adding one ingredient.
Consistently making delicious poached eggs can be a struggle. Sometimes they’ll go exactly the way you want them to, and then other times, they’re far too runny, or hard, and can make for a very frustrating breakfast experience.
That’s why @roerestaurant shared “how to perfectly poach an egg like a chef,” and Mark, the sous chef, explained how you can get it right every time.
“So you just get your egg in there and get some vinegar water going,” explaining the way to make it perfect is by putting vinegar into your boiling water.
Vinegar is added to the water when poaching eggs because it helps the egg whites coagulate more quickly.
The acidity from the vinegar causes the proteins in the egg whites to denature and solidify faster, which keeps the whites from spreading out in the water and helps the poached egg hold a neater, rounder shape.
This results in a poached egg with a tender white that surrounds the yolk more closely, giving you a more visually appealing and better-textured egg.
The amount of vinegar used is usually small, so it doesn’t noticeably affect the flavour of the egg, as some report a foul flavour if too much is used.
Mark also explained the temperature of the water is important, as you want “around 85 to 90 degrees” and to then time “three minutes,” as this is the sweet spot for making those poached eggs unbelievably tasty.
“People always say you can stir the water. I personally don’t believe you really need to,” Mark added.
He continued: “If you’re not cooking with vinegar, I guess the stirring method could work, but I always use vinegar.”
Mark then suggested “plunging it into ice water” when you take it out of the almost boiling water, opening up the egg to reveal an incredibly jammy and tasty yolk.
Placing a poached egg immediately into ice water rapidly cools it, stopping the cooking process almost instantly.
This quick cooling prevents the residual heat from continuing to cook the yolk, which helps to maintain a soft, jammy texture rather than letting it become hard or overcooked.
So, the ice water doesn’t make the yolk more jammy on its own, but it helps preserve that perfect egg shape and texture that you often get at restaurants, but struggle to replicate in your own kitchen.
