Egg Poaching Pan

[quelquod]

Some time ago SWMBO decided that our poaching pan had seen better days and was due for renewal. The old one was all aluminium, a bit bashed certainly, and sometimes took a bit of patience to extract the eggs from the holders. The new one had a plastic tray with plastic cups and the poached eggs simply slid out - wonderful! On Saturday I rushed to the kitchen to attend to a loud yell. The pan having boiled dry, the plastic tray and all 4 cups had melted and turned into a molten eggy plastic mess.

So - we’ve had no luck tracking down a decent metal poaching pan, plenty of modern lightweight plasticky horrors. Anyone know of one?

[Rhyd6]

Don't know of a metal one but we use silicone style egg holders which just float in the water and can be used with any pan. They're very easy to use and the eggs slide out of them with no problems. I bought mine from ebay though no doubt they have them in the Amazon shop.

R6

[Alaric]

So - we’ve had no luck tracking down a decent metal poaching pan, plenty of modern lightweight plasticky horrors. Anyone know of one?

An Amazon search for egg poachers suitable for induction hobs should find a few. Typically these are made of steel with slicone or non-stick cups and come in both two cup and four cup configurations.

[quelquod]

So - we’ve had no luck tracking down a decent metal poaching pan, plenty of modern lightweight plasticky horrors. Anyone know of one?

An Amazon search for egg poachers suitable for induction hobs should find a few. Typically these are made of steel with slicone or non-stick cups and come in both two cup and four cup configurations.

You’d think so. We’ve a gas hob but that’s by the by, I worked through quite a few on Amazon but the stickiness of poached eggs seemed to defeat most of the more durable looking ones. The search goes on.

[mc2fool]

Honestly folks, what's wrong with just a ladle?

Get saucepan of water up to just below simmering (only very small bubbles rising).
Break egg into a ladle.
Lower ladle slowly into water.
Once outside of white has started to solidify, tip egg into water.
Wait 2-3 minutes then use a slotted spoon to retrieve the cooked egg.

If you didn't time the fourth step correctly and the egg has sprouted tendrils then practice some more!

P.S. If the egg sticks to the ladle when you immerse it then either smear some butter on the inside of it before breaking the egg into it, or get a non-stick ladle...

[Lootman]

Honestly folks, what's wrong with just a ladle?

Get saucepan of water up to just below simmering (only very small bubbles rising).
Break egg into a ladle.
Lower ladle slowly into water.
Once outside of white has started to solidify, tip egg into water.
Wait 2-3 minutes then use a slotted spoon to retrieve the cooked egg.

If you didn't time the fourth step correctly and the egg has sprouted tendrils then practice some more!

P.S. If the egg sticks to the ladle when you immerse it then either smear some butter on the inside of it before breaking the egg into it, or get a non-stick ladle...

Yeah, that is how my mum did it. Often skipped the ladle part of that too

However if you want that perfect circular shape that is required for Eggs Benedict/Hollandaise/Florentine then you probably need the otherwise redundant "poacher".

[kempiejon]

I saw lots on google in aluminium. like https://www.nisbets.co.uk/vogue-stainle ... 200mm/k891
I'm surprised this has gone on so long without someone saying they don't any poaching holders, I break my eggs into simmering water in a frying pan.
I don't use swirling water or vinegar but do get best results with freshest eggs. Cling film works very well for holding them all neatly together.

[Loup321]

As others have said, I just use a pan of boiling water. I find I have to use vinegar, and quite a bit, but the eggs in my house are usually not that fresh. I used to add only a teaspoon or so, but the eggs still crept all over the pan. When my hand slipped with the vinegar, and a few tablespoons went in, the egg was one tight little mass. So I add a lot of vinegar, not too early (once the water is properly boiling), then break the egg(s) straight into the pan. 3 minutes later, I remove them with a slotted spoon. I don't mind the taste of vinegar, probably because my Mum hated it and the only way to keep chips to myself was to drown them.

Try this, if you're feeling adventurous.
1. Lightly toast a quarter of a ciabatta roll.
2. Put 3 slices of chorizo on it (the thin sliced stuff from the supermarket, not the ring you can slice yourself), and pop it back under the grill until the oil oozes into the bread.
3. Meanwhile, poach the egg.
4. Put the chorizo toast on a plate; drain the egg and balance it on top; grate a small amount of mature cheddar over the top. The cheese will melt on the hot egg.

Change the quantities to suit your appetite, but the above works perfectly for breakfast for me.

[mc2fool]

As others have said, I just use a pan of boiling water. I find I have to use vinegar, and quite a bit, but the eggs in my house are usually not that fresh. I used to add only a teaspoon or so, but the eggs still crept all over the pan. When my hand slipped with the vinegar, and a few tablespoons went in, the egg was one tight little mass. So I add a lot of vinegar, not too early (once the water is properly boiling), then break the egg(s) straight into the pan.

There's the problem, you don't want it to be boiling, you want as little movement of water in the pan as possible to avoid the egg doing its impersonation of The Blob.

Although some sources recommend stirring the water rapidly to form a whirlpool and dropping the egg into the centre of the vortex. Never managed that successfully! Older eggs tend to have some more watery white along with the less so, and it's worth draining the more watery white off, as that's what tends to make the tendrils.

Note also that poaching is not boiling ... it's supposed to be done at 70-80degC. And the device that is sold and most people think of as an egg poacher is actually a coddler -- cups in a bain-marie -- and produces, unsurprisingly, coddled eggs, not poached ones. And if you let the water boil then they become coddled/steamed eggs!

[quelquod]

So we took the plunge and spent the princely sum of £8 on a pan at ASDA.
https://groceries.asda.com/product/fryi ... 0011829672
Meets the requirements almost exactly at little cost (Lemon Fool requirement). Easily gripped handle on the lid that doesn’t get very hot, weighty aluminium pan and trivet, and moulded handles on the (plastic) inserts that even my large sausage fingers can grip (just!). And the eggs don’t stick too much with a little butter to help though nothing’s perfect. Just a bit of fine tuning needed so that it neither boils dry nor spoils the eggs’ appearance by flooding over them.

Ladles, silicone moulds, clingfilm, even just dropping the egg into simmering water??? Yeugh!

[Alaric]

And the eggs don’t stick too much with a little butter to help though nothing’s perfect. Just a bit of fine tuning needed so that it neither boils dry nor spoils the eggs’ appearance by flooding over them.

I've been steaming eggs for thirty years or more using pans similar to your Asda purchase. Invariably I boil the water in a kettle first before filling the steamer to the level of the bottom of the cups. Once the boiling has restarted, I run the ring on about half power to keep it steaming. The cups can be lubricated either with butter or olive oil. Butter has the advantage of giving an implicit temperature test when it melts.

I've found eggs from supermarket "posh" ranges give the best results.

[Urbandreamer]

Ladles, silicone moulds, clingfilm, even just dropping the egg into simmering water??? Yeugh!

If you cook the eggs long enough that there is no water left in the pan then they will have the rubbery texture of hard boiled eggs, if edible.

The Collins English dictionary describes poached eggs as being cooked in water. Using a Ladle allows the egg to be placed in the water without dropping it in. Dropping from a great height or having the water bubbling like mad can tend to separate yolk and white. I do feel that it needs to be as close to boiling as possible, so bring to boil then reduce heat before adding the egg. I no longer use vinegar when poaching eggs.

Here is a bit about coddled eggs.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-a ... egg-995623

Personally I don't think that you can time poached eggs, but need to actually watch them as the timing varies with the eggs. However can I suggest that a kitchen timer might be a good addition to your pan. As a student I found that you can melt the bottom out of a kettle if you allow it to boil dry.