~ Menu ~
Poached Eggs on Nubbly Toast
A Scattering of Smoky Boiled Ham
Coffee
My friend Carol has recently taken up chickening or whatever it’s called; poultry farming on a small scale. She has three young lady chickens (much to the disgust of her old lady dogs) and they each lay one egg every day so she gave me three to try.
How to Poach Eggs
There seems to be a lot unnecessary kerfuffle about poaching eggs; all that is needed is a pan of boiling salted water about 5cm deep and lovely really fresh eggs.
~ When the water is at a rolling boil, crack the eggs and gently pour the contents into the water (if you are nervous break the eggs individually into cups and then pour into the water).
~ Immediately the thick fresh white will form a ball around the yolk and, equally immediately, turn down the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes depending on their size by which time the white will be firm and the yolks will be runny.
~ Scoop out carefully with a holey spoon and allow to drain and dry a little before placing on hot toast.
No need for vinegar in the water if the eggs are truly fresh and certainly no need of those little cups people used to use which, in effect steamed rather than poached the eggs. There was nothing wrong with them – just not poached.
~ When the water is at a rolling boil, crack the eggs and gently pour the contents into the water (if you are nervous break the eggs individually into cups and then pour into the water).
~ Immediately the thick fresh white will form a ball around the yolk and, equally immediately, turn down the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes depending on their size by which time the white will be firm and the yolks will be runny.
~ Scoop out carefully with a holey spoon and allow to drain and dry a little before placing on hot toast.
No need for vinegar in the water if the eggs are truly fresh and certainly no need of those little cups people used to use which, in effect steamed rather than poached the eggs. There was nothing wrong with them – just not poached.
I used to work with an excellent person called Kathy who was always egg lady for Sunday brunch. We used to serve about 150 meals, all cooked to order and a large percentage were Eggs Benedict. Despite the frenzy of the kitchen Kathy used to keep an open book beside her in case she got bored and also, in her spare time, she would often dance a little. She’s very talented! She did all these eggs, maybe 100 every Sunday, using the above method.
Whilst writing about Eggs Benedict I often think it is strange that this dish of Canadian bacon, a French sauce with a Dutch name served on "English muffins" is considered by many to be classic American!!
So, anyway, I poached all three of my fresh out of the chicken eggs as they were tiny (Carol thinks that they might get bigger when the girls have had more practice) and ate them on lovely buttered toast.
For my real men I had boiled a ham and made them some ham and pease pudding sandwiches but I “accidentally” cut a little too much ham so had to eat it up with my lunch.
2 comments:
Hi, Suzy! I'm a fellow newcomer at Kitchen Reader. I did try black garlic recently at a friend's house. Like you said in your previous post, it turns out there's nothing to be afraid of - I was surprised how mild the flavour was. To me it tasted more of licorice than of garlic, though, and given that I'm not quite sure how I would use it - not a flavour I normally design dishes around.
Uh-oh - I don't like liquorice and I love black garlic but I see what you mean. I have been and am going to be playing with it quite a bit - today for lunch I'm going to have it with soft blue cheese and I'm really looking forward to it (and the glass of red I intend having, just to compliment the flavours you understand!).
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