From the Castle Kitchen: Enjoy Perfectly Poached Eggs at Home - no Fancy Tools Required

By: Jamie Patterson Chojnacki

Our poached eggs, served on homemade Hokkaido milk bread, with a layer of fresh avocado slices and cilantro.

My obsession with a good Sunday breakfast began when my dad introduced me to delights like pancakes and scrambled eggs as a little girl.

Some years later, I began waiting tables at a popular family diner and my idea of what constituted breakfast expanded further. There were items on the menu which I’d never even heard of before: Corn-Beef Hash, Malted Waffles, and Eggs Benedict (English muffin open-face, topped with poached egg, bacon, and hollandaise sauce).

I watched the chefs carefully as they prepared each dish. Eggs Benny, as we affectionately called it in the business, was one that required poached eggs, but so did several others.

To make these poached eggs, there was a special metal apparatus involved. Whenever there was a request for these, it seemed to be troublesome affair. The chefs, already engaged in a very busy breakfast service, had to drag out the egg-poacher which had about 10 parts to it. This thing required special preparation and did not afford extra time to tend to other things - like flipping pancakes or omelettes.

Not to mention, the precision it then took to get the eggs out of the poacher. Breaking the yolk, alas, was nothing short of catastrophe, and good cooks often walked-off the line for much less.

One of the many things that I learned at that restaurant though, was that the experienced chefs always added vinegar to the boiling water which made the whole ordeal a bit more tolerable (and likely to turn out).

Never one to pass up a challenge, I wanted to figure out how to perfectly poach eggs for guests to the castle without inducing a breakdown during breakfast service, and that meant figuring out a way to do without the special apparatus.

And, by jove, I got it!

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Perfectly Poached Eggs

Use small bowl to hold fresh-cracked eggs separately

Yields: 2 servings

Tools

• 1 medium heavy-bottom pot

• water to fill pot 3/4 of the way

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) white vinegar

• slotted spoon, or soup spoon and a towel

• small bowls; I use 9 cm wide glass bowls which fit one egg each

Poached Eggs

• 4 free-range, bio-eggs

• 1 liberal pinch of sea salt, I used Maldon flakes

• fresh cracked pepper

• lemon zest (optional)

+ toasted bread of choice, butter or olive oil for the toast

The quality of your poached eggs depends on two things: the ingredients and the technique - neither of which involve fancy tools. To ensure a delicious breakfast use fresh, high-quality ingredients. The technique I will teach you below.

Technique

Crack eggs into separate small bowls and remove any shells if needed. Set aside.

Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat. Once at a rolling boil, add a tablespoon of white vinegar to the water. The vinegar is the magic ingredient here, because it does a lot of the work for you. It helps firm up the protein-rich whites resulting in the perfect parcel of ooey gooey goodness.

Holding one bowl at a time close to the surface of the boiling water, slip each egg into the pot quickly. Note: up to 4 eggs poaching in the pot at one time should be fine. If the eggs touch the bottom, do not disturb them, they should loosen themselves and slowly rise near the top. Leave eggs uninterrupted for 2.5 - 3 minutes. Afterwards, take your spoon and gently place under each egg to lift out of water, one at a time.

If your toasts are ready, place each egg directly onto them. If not, set on a paper towel, to drain excess water

When serving, top the eggs with fresh cracked pepper, and a sprinkle of sea salt. To kick it up a notch, grate lemon zest over top.

Poached eggs can be dressed easily; we like pairing ours with fresh avocado slices and cilantro.

Enjoy!