i poached my first egg

i poached my first egg. it was kind of fun but frightening at the same time.

i’m not totally sure what lead me to poach an egg but since my week was full of disasters i figured it couldn’t hurt. if i screwed it up, which i did the first time, i expected it so it wouldn’t matter.

julia child, in her cookbook mastering the art of french cooking, explains in great detail how to poach an egg. i love julia, i am a huge fan, but it got me nervous. use fresh eggs, do this do that, it seemed so complicated but when i did it, it worked, and it didn’t seem to hard.

let me explain. her method is easy really, it sounds scary and seems difficult but it wasn’t.

use fresh eggs, i used eggs from the store, i am sure this summer when i pick up local eggs from the farmers market the whole experience will be different, will keep you updated.
fill a skillet or a pot with 3″ of water and add a touch of white vinegar. bring to a simmer, not a boil. the first time i turned around and the flame was to high, suddenly i was boiling. the egg exploded. i kind of laughed because hey, we all make mistakes. p got a huge kick out of it and started screaming mama egg!
crack your egg into a small bowl or ramekin. trust me, you want to inspect the egg. you don’t want any blood marks or any funkiness. one of my eggs had a huge blood spot, i almost got sick. sometimes i think it’s better not to look into foods like this but hey, you don’t want to poach a blood spot. by the way, are you supposed to throw out eggs with blood spots?
when your water comes to a simmer, slowly add your egg, have a slotted spoon near by, trust me. as soon as i poured the egg in i grabbed my slotted spoon and i kept the whites together. they didn’t run they just spread out a little and i lightly kept it all together.
set a timer or keep and eye on your watch. a poached egg should cook for 4 minutes.
have a bowl of cold water out, when the timer goes off, pick up the egg with the slotted spoon and add it to your cold water. you can store it there to keep it fresh. when you are ready to serve, you can reheat your egg in a pot of salted simmering water.

does that seem confusing? do you think it is something you might want to try? i served it over a bed of mixed greens, with some crumbled bacon, prosciutto, some veg and a light vinaigrette.

it was delicious! i was a little frighted it might be goopy or slimy, neither. it was the perfect egg.

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