- Cut off the wispies
For a restaurant finish, use a sharp pair of scissors to trim off any stray wispy edges from your poached eggs to get the perfect shape.
- Try the Saran Wrap hack
If your eggs are still spreading out in the water, poaching them inside Saran Wrap is the most effective way to cheat a clean result. To do this, cut a square of Saran Wrap large enough to comfortably wrap around each egg – around 12x12in should be enough. – Very lightly oil each square by brushing a couple of drops of cooking oil across the center of the wrap. Place the wrap over a ramekin dish and tip the egg in. Pick up each corner of the wrap, then twist snugly around the egg to form a ball. Try to ensure there is no air left inside, and tie the wrap tightly in a knot around the egg. – The more closely the wrap fits around the uncooked egg, the fewer wrinkles which ensures a better finish. – The tied egg parcels can be poached inside the hot water as normal and multiple egg parcels can be poached at once in this way. You may need to increase cooking time by a small amount with this method because of the wrap, or if you are poaching a large number of eggs together. Once the eggs are cooked to your liking, remove from the pan, and snip the knot at the base of the egg with scissors to unwrap them before serving. - Use a specially-designed helper
Poach Pods are made for poached egg lovers who want a shortcut to their favorite dish. These silicon cups float on top of the water so you can see exactly when your eggs are poached to glossy perfection. Being silicon, the poached eggs are also easy to remove and there’s minimal clean up. You’ll wonder how you lived without them.
- Grab a ladle
You can get a similar result to the Poach Pods if you have a ladle handy. Lightly oil the ladle and tip the cracked egg inside. Hold the ladle and cracked egg in the simmering water, but make sure not to submerge the egg at first. Once you see the white start to solidify, you can then submerge the ladle and egg inside the water to poach fully. Cooking time will need to be increased to compensate for the ladle, and remember that you will need to hold the ladle in place while it cooks.
Poached eggs don’t need to be intimidating, as long as you don’t just throw them in the pan and hope for the best.
Often, the biggest learning curve with poached eggs is water temperature: too hot and the egg will disperse throughout the water into a wispy mess; too cool and the yolk will separate from the white. Once you get that right however, you’ll find that everything else comes together.
Before you know it, you’ll be finding any excuse to show off your Instagram-perfect brunch table.
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