I used to eat a lot of poached eggs, but got put off by their slight faffiness - hence I'm out of practice. Poached eggs have their own particular magic, with the liquid egg being poured straight into hot water and changing before your eyes into a delicate, quivering white blob filled with golden treasure. Unlike boiled, I don't think the poached egg can wait for long once it's done - so I get everything else ready before it goes in the pan. This includes setting out a folded paper towel on a plate, and slotted spoon, ready to take the egg out and drain it completely before serving. Cooking only one egg today, I filled a medium saucepan half full with water, brought it to the boil, and then stirred the water into a whirlpool, turning it down slightly before dropping in the egg, so that it wasn't bubbling violently. Usually I would crack the egg on the side of the pan and drop it straight into the centre. However, I have recently been trying a method I read in Felicity Cloake's Guardian series 'How to make the perfect ...' (see below for link), in which the egg is cracked into a cup first and then slid into the pan. I have had some success with this method - today's version was good, although not as perfect as one I made at the weekend. It allows the egg to go in much more gently, with the cup held really close to the water surface, so that there seems a greater chance of the white gathering closely around the yolk. You also avoid getting bits of burnt egg on the edge of the pan.
After the egg had gone in, I turned down the heat to the lowest setting and left it for about 3 minutes before taking it out and draining. This produced a just-cooked white and completely liquid yolk. I ate it on hot buttered toast, with salt and pepper, and some left over olives on the side.
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