The best way to poach an egg without vinegar

Question

What is the best way to poach an egg without vinegar? Is there a quick and easy alternative?

Thanks in advance.

Asked by Jeb

Answer

Heston Blumenthal has brought his unique scientific approach to bear on this recently. The main pointers for a perfect poached egg are as follows:

• The egg must be fresh. A fresh egg has a thicker, more gel-like albumen. As it gets older, this becomes watery, and so just disperses throughout the water when you add it. To test if your egg is fresh, place it in a jug of cold water. If it floats, it's not fresh - the egg has had time to absorb air through its shell. A fresh egg sinks and stays sunk.

• The water temperature should be 80ºC/176ºF exactly. You can measure this with a sugar or probe thermometer. The egg should be at room temperature.

• The egg should not come into contact with direct heat, so put a plate or small bowl on the bottom of the pan, bottom up.

Once the water is up to temperature, carefully add the fresh egg to the water (I break it into a ramekin first) and cook for 4 minutes exactly. Drain and serve - the white should be set but not rubbery (a drawback of using vinegar) and the yolk should be creamy and rich.

Answered by ElendilTheTall

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