One of my favorite way to have eggs is to poach them. Poaching creates a creamy, warm, tender egg with lots of gooey delicious yolk that you can sop up with toast, home fries, quinoa, or a slice of ham, depending on your dietary and mealtime preferences. If you love fried eggs when the yolks are just barely set, then you would probably really dig poached eggs.
Some people worry about the food safety issues involved with poached eggs. I can't argue with that, although the statistics are on your side: only 1 in every 20,000 eggs has salmonella bacteria. Personally I only poach eggs that come from my own chickens, because I know they are healthy and not carrying salmonella. If you buy your eggs from a reputable producer, you will probably be fine. But you might want to cook them a little on the firm side if you are worried.
Poaching an egg is quite simple. There is no need for complicated techniques or specialized egg poaching pans or any of it. Just fill a skillet or saucepan with about an inch and a half of water, add a splash of vinegar (this helps set the egg white quickly), and bring it up to a gentle simmer. You want the water hot enough to cook the egg, but not so hot that it bangs the egg around while it's cooking.
Crack the egg and gently drop it into the water. Ideally the egg should just slide in, whether straight from the shell, or (if you prefer) from a bowl. Ease it in, don't just cannonball it in there. Tendrils of egg white will start spreading out: take a slotted spoon and just sort of pat them into place. The whole thing will coalesce as it cooks.
Give it about 4-5 minutes to cook. If you want your eggs a little more firm, you can gently flip them over in the water after they have cooked for several minutes. When they are done, scoop them up with a slotted spoon, let them drain briefly, and serve. Delicious!
Image courtesy Flickr/Annie Mole
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