Poached Eggs
Carefully break 1 egg at a time into a frying pan partly filled with salted water nearly boiling hot; baste with the water until white is firm; serve boiling hot. Milk may be used instead of water.
A bare-bones method that assumes you already know what a poached egg should look like. Two details in the original carry the whole thing: the water must be below a boil, and the egg is basted rather than stirred or swirled.
- "Nearly boiling hot"Roughly 180-200F, where the surface shivers or trembles but does not break into a rolling boil. A hard boil shreds the white into threads before it can set around the yolk.
- The frying pan is deliberateThe frying pan -- A wide, shallow pan means the egg lands on the bottom with only an inch or two of water above it, which is what makes basting possible. A deep saucepan defeats the method.
- Basting instead of turningSpoon the hot water over the exposed top of the egg repeatedly. This sets the film of white above the yolk without your having to flip the egg, which is where most poached eggs break.
- TimingThree minutes gives a firm white and a liquid yolk; four to four and a half firms the yolk to a paste. The recipe's "until white is firm" is the only cue you need, but check by lifting the egg on a slotted spoon and tilting it rather than by poking it.
- Egg freshness does the workA fresh egg has a thick, tight white that holds its shape in water. Older whites go watery and spread; if that is what you have, crack the egg into a fine sieve first and let the loose part drain off before it goes in the pan.
- Salt, and the vinegar the book omitsSalted water seasons the egg and does comparatively little for setting. A teaspoon of vinegar per quart tightens the white noticeably; other cookbooks of the period call for it, and this one does not.
- The milk versionPoaching in milk gives a softer, sweeter white and was often served with the milk poured over, frequently on toast, as invalid or nursery food. Milk scorches far more readily than water, so keep the heat low and watch the pan bottom.
- Serving and yieldServing -- Lift each egg out with a slotted spoon, blot the base on a towel so the water does not soak the toast, and serve at once. Figure one or two eggs per person.
Poaching an egg loose in water is old enough to have no inventor, and it appears with some prominence in American cookbooks of the 1890s and 1900s. Egg poached in milk in particular turns up again and again in the invalid-cookery chapters of the period, recommended for the sick, the elderly and small children on the theory that boiled or fried food taxed the stomach while poached food did not. Reliable Recipes includes it as a basic technique rather than a dish, and treats it with considerable terseness. "Baste" here is the older, broader sense of the word: to moisten with liquid during cooking, not specifically with fat.