DIY How to Poach an Egg Photo Tutorial

I've always wanted to learn how to poach an egg but I'd read it could be hard so I never tried making one myself. Well, as it turns out it wasn't that hard. I found two tutorials online at Serious Eats and Simply Recipes and followed their instructions.

The benefits? No added fat or oil it's just an egg in its purest state. Plus the clean up is so easy! Much easier than when you fry an egg.

Here's how I did it:

Start with very fresh eggs.

Crack your egg into a small dish or measuring cup.

Put about three inches of water into a pan to heat. I used a small saucepan.

Bring the water to just before simmering when bubbles form on the sides of the pan but don't rise.

Between 140º and 150º is ideal.

Now swirl the water with a spoon stirring in one direction so it will create a circular motion in the water. I read this will help hold the egg whites together.

Gently slide the egg into the water from the measuring cup or dish.

See how nicely my egg white formed into a nice round shape around the yolk without a lot of tendrils or free floating pieces of egg white in the water?

Allow the egg to sit in the hot water for 4-5 minutes until done.

You can tell when it's done because if you push the egg with a regular spoon as it's cooking you can see the uncooked whites undulate beneath the cooked exterior of the egg whites. At around four minutes my whites were nice and firm and I slipped the egg out of the water with a slotted spoon.

Let the egg sit in the slotted spoon for a few seconds to allow the excess water to run off then plate.

I was so happy that my very first try yielded a perfectly poached egg!

The black plate was a good idea to show the contrast of the exterior of the egg but not so pretty once I broke the yolk. Next time I'll have to experiment with plate colors for a prettier picture. The yolk looks kind of green because of the black plate. If the plate had been white it would have looked nice and yellow.

P.S. I used Alexandre Farms organic pasture raised (cage free) chicken eggs because they are produced more humanely than factory farmed eggs. At $7.99 a dozen (I could only find them at Whole Foods) they cost a pretty penny but, to me, the better life the chickens lead make them well worth the price of .67¢ per egg :)

In fact to allow the chickens to live outdoors with fresh air, sunshine and plenty of room to stretch their wings, walk, run, scratch, and eat natural food is, to me, worth even more.