March 20th
2008
Is it possible that the tiny man who is responsible for pushing the clock hands is in a rush these days? Where did the last weeks go, are we really approaching Easter weekend yet? My oh my. Maybe writing a book puts you in some sort of zombie mode, there is so much to do, so many different aspects to take care off, life outside your kitchen simply ceases to exist, vanishing behind a thick curtain. This time around, no special Easter treats like I came up with last year or some years ago. Yet I don't want to skip all the bunny and egg festivities, hoping my latest discovery qualifies for the Easter theme, too.
Someday last year I had spent my entire lunch break at a nearby bookstore, one that is well-known for its unusual assortment, and yes, they even carry a small shelf of rather extraordinary cookbooks. That's where "La grande Fête - Das große Fest" fell into my hands, written by restaurant chef Alain Weissgerber and his partner Barbara Eselböck. A book loaded with atmosphere in which Alain Weissgerber presents his cuisine, a happy marriage between his Alsatian roots and Austrian influences. (His restaurant Blaue Gans has a pretty cool website, although a bit tricky to navigate.) One small detail in his book struck me the most - he had used an ingenious method to poach an egg (p.132). In case your Easter plans warrants a poached egg, why not try this for yourself?
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Line a small bowl or ramekin with foil cling film and brush its inside with a few drops of sunflower oil. Carefully break a fresh egg - the yolk has to stay whole - and let it slide into the foil-lined cling film-lined bowl. Close the foil cling film above the egg, keeping a little air trapped inside, then close with a clip (the clip part is my addition to Weissgerber's methode). Now lower the "egg-bag" into the simmering water and turn the egg every 30 seconds or so for an evenly cooked result. The trapped air helps to keep the egg's surface relatively smooth. The book suggests to remove it after 2.5 minutes and dipping it into ice water to stop the cooking process. However, my large sized eggs took almost 4 minutes. They slipped out of the foil cling film like nothing else and - except for a few wrinkles - their even appearance made it unnecessary to cut off any excess egg white! Poached eggs - a piece of cake.
What do you mean foil?
Mmm...I loved poached eggs, and this sounds like a great method to try! Thanks!
What a brilliant idea! I was thinking about an Easter side dish of poached egg over roasted asparagus, but thought it would be too much trouble... this way, it might not be!
This is awesome- can't wait to try for my eggs benedict!! Thanks so much for sharing this technique
it kinda looks like you're using plastic and not foil... no?
foil... or polyethelene wrap?
you are a genius using that clip!
trying it tomorrow for bfast.
Oooops! I guess I got carried away by the similarities of the German and the English language - my bad! Of course I used cling film aka plastic or polyethelene wrap ;-)
Nicky, wait till you get to eat at blaue gans. Which you can easily work into your itinerary when you go to Gols. Just saying ;-)
Thank you for sharing your experience. I tried poached eggs in a freezer bag. But they came out very wrinkly as the eggs tend to stay in one corner of the bag. Your method seems much better!
so simple, but such a good idea... poaching eggs will be so easy from now on!
What an excellent (eggselent:) idea! What would I do if I've got no clip like that? Just tie a knot?
Sounds like it would be a breeze. My only hesitation is the nasty stuff that's released when polyethelene is heated. Can't remember the name of it, but it mimics estrogen and it's carcinogenic.
It used to be that runny yolks made me gag a bit but I have been wanting to try them again - this sounds much easier than trying to create a whirling vortex of boiling water with one hand and cracking in an egg to poach with the other!
That looks like a clever technique indeed. Like Toni, I worry about the boiled plastic, but I'm thinking of using the same idea with cheesecloth rather than plastic wrap: because egg white is so viscous, I don't think it would leak through the cheesecloth. I'll try it and report back!
for year my husband has claimed that restaurants "probably poach eggs in little bags" and I have scoffed and scoffed. wasn't I noble to show him this post? I can't wait to try this method--first dish: poached eggs on crow.
I've used this method before and it rocks! I don't use a clip, I just tie a strong knot. Works a treat! :)
Poached egg + sauce hollandaise = Benedict eggs. Perfect for an Oster Brunch!
A really good idea with that clip! I love love love runny yolks ;)
Yeah, and a happy Easter time to you Nicky!
Hi. I've done this before, but how do you stop the plastic from melting on the bottom of the saucepan?
ingenious!
Tried it this morning, worked great! I just tied knots since i was without clips. At first I was a little worried about the cling wrap possibly melting to the bottom of the saucepan, but by trapping air at the top of the bag it safely floated.
The idea of cooking an egg in plastic at home...is honestly, scary. Short cuts like this might make cooking easier, but who wants to cook food in plastic?
What a gorgeous egg . . . it reminds me of something I was obsessing on in the middle of an insomniacal night--how to bake eggs in various edible recepticles, like tomato halves and portabello caps. Happy Easter!
Interesting trick - seems like it would be easier to just throw some vinegar in the poaching water. That keeps the egg together, and doesn't affect the taste. Plus you can just spoon your result out onto the plate, no hot plastic.
The whole discussion around using plastic wrap is as old as the discussion about teflon pans. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=88357
[...] and drizzle it all with truffle oil just to see the effect it has on my husband. Or serve them poached on top of a frisee salad with lardons. [...]
wow!
That's a great method, thak you for sharing it!
I love the way the shape of the eggs turned out. Just in time for Easter breakfast. Thanks!
[...] Mal mit einem pochierten Ei nach der Anleitung von delicious:days. (Mit etwas mehr Falten als bei [...]
what a wonderful idea....thank you for the tips. beautiful pictures as well. cheers~
[...] from Delicious Days has tried out a different way of poaching an egg. That might not sound to exciting, but wait till you see the pictures! Eggy [...]
That's just genius! I can't wait to try it over breakfast.
Hey, I just wanted to report back that the method is foolproof!
I've just had a spring veg soup w/poached eggs 'your' way and it worked perfectly though I had to leave them in the water for 5 min. Thanks for sharing the tip!
has anyone tried adding anything to the bag first - like a bit of crisp-steamed asparagus, parmesan curl, tarragon leaves etc - then the egg?
Wow, this looks SO pretty!
Easter or not, I want to make this :)
Hi, although this idea is novel and probably quite effective I also have a bit of an issue cooking with plastic.
Besides adding salt and vinegar to your poaching water and having very fresh eggs, the easiest way to get a perfect poach is to poach the eggs in their shell for 25 seconds or so before cracking them into the water.
this should ensure a perfectly shaped egg.
Upon heating, polyethylene may emit various oligomres, waxes and oxygenated classified crystalline silica as a Group 1 (carcinogenic to humans). ....!
shall I say more?
Great idea - in the second picture it looked like „served by Ferran Adria”, but than I could breath again.
We once stayed in one of the appartments that surround the Blaue Gans. No frills, but direct access to „Schilfgürtschwimmen” (can’t translate this) in the morning for a pretty fair price so it’s easy to lunch at BG daily. Both highly recommended. And thanks for the hint on the book.
Poached eggs aren't difficult, and you don't need to go to all of this trouble. The problem is the eggs. You need to get very fresh eggs, and anything you can find at the supermarket simply doesn't qualify. Trying to properly poach a supermarket egg is folly.
Farmer's market eggs which have been inside a chicken recently poach up quite nicely without all of this fuss.
I tried doing this last week and the darned egg stuck to the saran wrap! Sadly, no smooth looking egg like yours! :( Any suggestions or plastic wraps to use? Cheers!
I have to admit that I am perplexed as to why the proprietor of the Blaue Gans would complicate one of the simplest cooking methods in existence. I also think it's important to be able to see the egg when you're poaching it in order to tell when it's ready, and this method makes that very difficult.
The aura of mystery that surrounds egg-poaching seems very silly to me!
This method was used in a restaurant I worked for some years, it allows you to poach a couple of eggs at the same time using one pot.
your blog is so gorgeous! I'm definately putting you on my blog roll!
My favorite thing on weekend is poached eggs and I'll definately try this lovely recipe. Thanks for sharing!
What a great tip, thank you! I've seen the "boiled in bag omelettes" before (with ham, onions, herbs, etc) but those always looked so distasteful. This however, looks great and so simple. I shall try this for breakfast tomorrow.
I wonder if egg coddlers would work, or if there would be too much air in with the egg? They are mostly an English thing, but they come in many forms (the best are porcelain with metal lids). It would be an interesting option for people who worry about plastic, plus they are pretty and some people collect them. If you buy one and decide you don't want it for eggs, they're cute as jam jars (just don't twist the rings--the rings are only to pull them in and out of the water).
how so totally perfect for making eggs benedict or the variations (my personal favorite - florentine) in time for mother's day
One thing i was curious about was is there any big difference betwen a poached egg and a soft boiled egg aside from one being cooked in the shell while the other without or the difference in texture..
although i guess that alone could be it. just wanted to be sure.
This style of egg is known as an Arzak Egg...After the Spanish chefs who popularized it.
Yes, for a simple poached egg the classic technique of an acidified bath is perfectly fine. What makes this method really shine is that you can flavor the egg however you like. The original uses duck fat and truffle oil. I've made them with herbs and pork fat. Alex and Aki of Ideas in Food take things in another direction with their "false egg", the construction of which can be seen on youtube.
On the cling film topic:
The hotel kitchen I did apprenticeship at also used clingfilm in a similar manner. - I think if anything, if these high establishments have no problem with it, (where there's strict food hygiene rules firmly set in place), maybe its use is alright then?
WOW! I've never made poached eggs, or even eaten this, but this looks too pretty to resist.
ha ha my mum will think I've gone coo-coo
ha ha I googled Cling Film, I guess I call it Plastic Wrap =)
I tried this for the first time this morning - it worked quite well... I too needed 5 minutes for my egg. Though when I turned it out, the yolk separated and popped out whole?? Very crazy. Probably has more to do with my eggs than the method. Thanks for the tip!
Oh I am SO going to try this!! I have a rosti, poached egg, speck and rocket salad that needs pretty poached eggs and this would be ideal :)
[...] I spent it catching up on my feeds and I was reading Delicious Days on which was a post entitled How to Poach an Egg — Differently. Now, I am a big fan of poached eggs and in fact I prefer my eggs poached rather than fried, [...]
What a great idea!! I love your photos, too!
This looks great! I had planned to poach some eggs with some new season English asparagus (YUM!). I've got to try this :-)
[...] me suis rappelee un truc de cuisson pour les oeufs poches qui me semblait amusant, vu sur le site delicious days (site de cuisine from Munich bien beau meme si a mon gout avec toutes les pubs il est nettement [...]
[...] tried poaching eggs in a plastic wrap as Nicky suggested - quirky and easy-peasy - and comes handy when the Estonian asparagus season kicks off in a week or [...]
Make sure to use microwave-safe clingfilm. If you've got an old unlabelled roll of plastic wrap lying around, it's probably a good idea not to heat it up and eat food out of it. Microwave-safe! That said, I found this method elsewhere and love it, it works perfectly every time and produces delightfully shaped poached eggs.
[...] poached eggs toast lint collector .gallery { margin: auto; } .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; [...]
I tried this today and it worked perfectly!
Is that foil or plastic wrap?