Poached Eggs 101: How To Poach Eggs Perfectly Every Time

There are some things that I never really thought to include on my site. Poaching eggs was one of those things that I presumed everyone knew how to do although it was something that I hadn't done very much until recently. All of this anticlockwise or clockwise water swirling action  put me off and the idea of wasting several eggs in the pursuit of doing one perfectly poached egg was something I thought was best left to the professionals.

Then on my story about Whisk & Pin a reader commented about the difficulty in poaching eggs so I realised that there may be more out there that have wasted countless eggs, swirled vinegared water, prayed and crossed fingers. This method is a foolproof one and one that has been successful for me ever since I came across it in the new Masterchef cookbook and they have noted that this is how the professionals do it.

I do find that using good quality cling film i.e. the name branded stuff works better as it is just that bit stronger than others. I used an Aldi cling film once and the clingfilm itself broke which was very disappointing until I realised that it must have been the quality of the cling film.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a kitchen tip that you would like to share?

Poached Eggs 101: How To Poach Eggs Perfectly Every Time

• Eggs

• Cling wrap

• oil for greasing

Step 1 - Fill a small saucepan with water and set to boil. Tear some cling film (ensuring there are no holes). Drizzle some oil over the cling film and spread it out with your fingers. Place the sheet of clingfilm in a ramekin oil side up and break and egg into the cling wrap (don't break the egg on the side of the ramekin in case it pierces a hole in the glad wrap). Gather up the edges of the cling wrap twisting it and making sure that you have the egg enclosed well and carefully place it in the simmering water.

Step 2 - For a soft boiled yolk, poach for 4.5- 5 minutes if the eggs are cold from the fridge or 3.5-4 minutes if they are room temperature. Lift out of the water using a slotted spoon and cut away the wrap just near it is twisted and gathered. Break it open to reveal a golden river of yolk.