Tuesday, August 10, 2010

8.10.10

A Quick Ode to Breakfast - Practicing my poached egg. I don't really want to be a purist about anything. That having been said, I consider myself a bit of a poached egg purist, because I am trying to learn how to poach to perfection. I feel like using one of the many "perfect poached egg" products on the market is cheating. Anyone can buy a silicone bowl and drop it, along with a raw egg into near-boiling water and have the egg cook in a perfect shape, but what if that same person found themselves in the mountains, tool-less needing to poach the perfect egg - s.o.l. It doesn't really matter what they look like it is just an enjoyable quest, not to mention, I like poached eggs and am happy to eat all the ugly imperfect ones along the way (I am even fine if that is all I ever make). Here is a photo of my latest attempt (c/o Mark Bittman's advice in this Minimalist article). I served my egg with cranberry currant bread and crenshaw melon.

4 comments:

  1. SO GORGEOUS! absolutely beautiful photos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OK, so Nathalie's brother-in-law is a chef, and he tried to tell her how to poach an egg. She and I tried it and it looked like a sebaceous tumor. I couldn't even bring myself to eat it, and fried a couple instead (I'll tell you another time about my weird egg experiences that sometimes put me off them). I think Nats ate them, though. If you want, I can ask her to ask Ross what the advice was again, but it sounds like you probably have heard 'em all??

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your experience sounds similar to my first - My pot ended up looking like I was trying to make cotton candy. It was an egg white massacre. Always happy to have more advice; at this point I throw in a little vinegar (it may not help but it can't hurt), swirl the water (my theory is that it keeps the egg bits together in the center as they touch the water) and gently drop the little egg-y in. It's getting there but by no means 'perfect.'

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes! It was like cotton candy! I know one of his tricks was to swirl the water. Not sure if there was something else. I'll ask! Then I'll have each of you prepare me meals and judge for myself. (The meals don't even need to be of poached eggs, heh heh... see how I did that?)

    ReplyDelete