Poached Eggs
To poach an egg scientifically and satisfactorily it should be broken carefully into the salted boiling water so that the white will not spread and leave the edges ragged. A very little vinegar added to the water will help to set the egg more quickly and keep its shape. An egg-poacher is convenient, as the eggs can be easily lifted out of the water, or rings like muffin-rings may be set in the pan and keep them in uniform shape. Cook until they are just firm enough to lift out without breaking the yolks, and serve on slices of delicately browned, hot buttered toast. The toast and eggs should be placed on a hot dish. Thin slices of delicately crisped bacon arranged around the edge of the platter alternated with springs of parsley makes an attractive and satisfactory breakfast dish.
A method rather than a formula, and the technique holds up. Two details in the original are worth adjusting to current practice.
- Water that is not boilingDespite the wording, a rolling boil shreds the white. Bring the water to a boil, then drop it back to a bare shiver at around 180-190F before the egg goes in.
- Salt and vinegarRoughly a teaspoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt to a quart of water is enough. More vinegar than that tightens the surface of the white and leaves a sour edge on the egg.
- Freshness does more than vinegarA fresh egg has a thick, cohesive white that holds itself together; an older one spreads no matter what is in the water. Cracking the egg into a fine sieve first and letting the loose watery white drain away is the single most effective way to get a clean shape.
- TimingThree minutes gives a set white and a liquid yolk; four gives a yolk that is thickened but still soft. The book's "just firm enough to lift" falls somewhere in that range.
- Rings and poachersMuffin rings set on the bottom of the pan work, but the egg tends to weld itself to the metal unless the ring is buttered. Note that some poachers of the period were closed metal cups that steam the egg rather than poach it, which gives a rubberier white; the one described here, from which the eggs are lifted out of the water, appears to be the perforated sort.
- DrainingLift with a slotted spoon and rest it briefly on a folded towel. Water carried onto the toast turns it to paste within seconds.
- YieldAllow two eggs and one slice of toast per person, and do not crowd the pan; three or four eggs at a time in a wide pan is the limit before the water temperature drops.
The insistence on doing it "scientifically" is a signature of American cookbooks from around 1900, when domestic science was busy recasting kitchen habits as procedures with reasons attached. The reason offered here is sound: acid and heat both coagulate egg white, so a little vinegar sets the outer layer before it has time to disperse. Poached eggs on buttered toast had by then become a fixture of the light breakfast and, notably, of invalid cookery, since an egg cooked in water needed no fat and was considered easy on the digestion. The bacon-and-parsley border belongs to the same period's fondness for the garnished platter, when a dish was expected to look composed before it reached the table.