How To Poach An Egg

I will be the first to admit that I have been totally slacking in my quest to learn the "proper" techniques of cooking. I sort of fell off it before starting the egg portion of it. This isn't because I do not like eggs but merely beause the chapter started off with omlettes. Omlettes sort of scare me. It just seems like there is a lot involved in not making the eggs stick to the pan, getting the eggs cooked just right, and then filling the freaking thing. That is daunting.

I, being the genius that I am, have just come to the realization that I don't need to start at the beginning of the chapter. I can skip the omlette part and come back later. Why I didn't think to start with the easier methods of cooking eggs earlier I don't know but at least I figured it out at some point. Anyhow, I poached an egg. Woo-Hoo!

I don't really understand the point of poaching eggs and I don't know when I'll ever need to poach an egg but I know how to when I need to. It is also good that I had my handy dandy guide book near by because if someone had told me to drop a shelled egg in near boiling water I would have salted the water. Why? I don't know? Because it makes sense to me to salt the water? Too bad that would have turned out horribly because the salt would cause the whites of the egg to break. You actually add vinegar to the water. Who knew that vinegar would help to set the whites? So to poach an egg you

1)Bring cold unsalted water to a boil and add 1/4 cup vinegar per quart of water

2)Boil the water then bring it down to about 180 degrees

3)Break the egg into a ramekin and make sure the yolk is unbroken and it is a perfect egg



4)Slip the egg into the water and cook about 3 minutes (the whites will firm and the yolk will be covered with a thin film




5)Remove the egg from the water with a slotted spoon, dip in cold water to stop the egg cooking (and it rinses off any vinegar residue) and put on paper towels to drain

6)Trim any ragged edges






7)Refrigerate until needed

Okay, so I have an egg yolk encased in a thin layer of egg white. Great. Now what? Do people eat this as is or do they add it to something? What, exactly, is the point of poaching an egg?

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