I started doing this a long time ago in a bid to make healthier "fried eggs".
Basically you get a red hot frying pan, boiing water about an inch deep and drop the eggs straight in. You don't get the water swirlling or anything like that, you just treat it like you are frying. The only difference is you have to wait a little longer as the eggs "set up" (go solid) so you can lap water over them to cook the top properly (like you would do with a normal fried egg)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1792434&l=82150f8bc7&id=759322738
copy and paste the above into your browser if the link below doesn't become clickable !
What occured to me this morning was when we've been to hotels and such with the serve yourself breakfasts, I'm sure sometimes the "fried eggs" come out on a tray with water on... is this a catering technique that is already in use ?
Steve
This is not new I guess, the eggs are poached in special utensils or frypan filled with boiling water. We have been doing it for years.
But I prefer omelette with onions and green chillies:)
Oh yes my mother used to have one of those pans where you have 2 or 4 small "bowls" that fit over the top of the pan which you fill with water and put the lid on. Its what we know as a poaching pan, and they would be poached eggs (you also had to put a little oil/butter in the bottom of each pan to stop the eggs sticking.
The other method is to drop one egg at a time into the middle of a deep pan of swilling water so if forms a sort of slightly flattened ball shape, this I believe is "coddled" (altough many people still call it poached?)
My method is obviously similar but gives a flattened out egg as if you have fried it and no need to use any fat/oil
Steve
Hello Steve
Your method is the traditional, English way of 'poaching' eggs. My dad used to make them like this years ago. He added a teaspoon of vinegar or a little salt to the boiling water, he said it 'holds' them together better.
I often make them, though my husband prefers his fried in lots of oil.
I'm surprised its the traditional way as until I decided to do it as an experiment one Sunday, I'd never seen or heard of anyone doing it ! Maybe its an area thing again?
Steve
I am surprised Steve how you missed ever eating one, living in UK! Mind you, there are hundreds of English dishes that I have never tasted myself.
Look here;
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cold-poached-egg-salad-with-watercress-sauce,1012,RC.html
http://www.eggrecipes.co.uk/egg/asp/recipe.asp?r=428
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/PoachEgg.htm
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/8820/basic+poached+eggs
I Love poached eggs on a butterd toast, with salt and pepper. It has to be slightly runny.
Mamta
They are similar in technique but if you look they are quite thick !
Look at these of mine -
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1792289&l=5b3153c35a&id=759322738
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1760841&l=60cf91ca78&id=759322738
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1371818&l=a60e6482a1&id=759322738
you can see they are more spread out and flat like you get in a shallow fry !
I use boiling water and crack the egg straight in, which is the similar to frying (although I fry on a low heat so it doesn't blister and bubble into a crispy mess)
But I'm still the only one I know who does it !.. lol
Sorry you have to copy and paste, but facebook pictures don't convert to links on here !
Steve
Steve, they look identical to my poached eggs. The special pan you were describing earlier, that you mum had, came in the late 60's and 70's. But that pan doesn't make 'true' poached eggs, which are done exactly the way you describe them; break an egg into a pan of boiling water. How much they spread out or not depends on how good you are at making it and you are obviously good at it.
Mamta
This is more or less exactly like the one my mum has/used to have
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2034/2172275371_a6dec2b40b.jpg?v=0
Steve
Yeap, I used to have that one too. If you didn't oil it first, they often used to get stuck! they were not true poached eggs.
What I learnt in poaching eggs is that by adding the vinegar (just a teaspoon) into the boiling water it helps to bind the white of the egg (protein)so it does not break up so easily. Just before cracking the egg into the boiling water use a spoon or whatever and swirl water. This sort of acts like centrifuge where the spinning keeps the egg white together even more. Usually mine take no more then 2 1/2 minutes to cook and the yolk is lovely and runny with the white being nice and firm
June
June is that not a "coddled" egg ?... you know the more interest you have in the food the worse and more confusing everything seems to get !... LOL... one person calls it poached, another coddled and probably a whole lot more... !
Steve
Read this, interesting; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coddled_egg
even more confusing...
So Coddled is cooked in the shell !...Coddled is in a small tub in a baine marie
poached is directly in water unless you've got an egg poacher which is a cup over boiling water !!...
LOL
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-coddled-egg.htm
Steve
Well here we call them poached eggs..... never heard of coddled eggs before.
Different countries, different names for doing the same thing but all end up with yummy food
June
Sorry, but that is so funny. Cant believe you've just discovered poached eggs Asky! You probably thought you'd invented something new! :o) I do them the same as JL, a dash of vinegar, swirl the water and pour the egg in. I also have one of the little 4 cup 60's poaching dishes.
Cheers
Steve
The spread of the egg when dropped into the water is dependant on the freshness of the egg, very fresh eggs will sit in the water the white compact and firm and yolk sitting high on top of the white. older eggs lose their firmness and spread more.
Hi Mamta
Just read the Wikipeidia link.... yes it is interesting. As the water is not boiling and the egg just sits in there for 10 minutes I think I too would be a bit concerned about salmonella.
Oddy- Next time I make poached eggs I will check out where the yolk is after using the eggs from my chooks hahaha... will tell the girls off as they tend to hideushes under to lay their eggs and only sometimes use the nesting box. So we have a real 'egg hunt'.
cheers
June
Well June, if they were your 'babies' someone was after, wouldn't you be hiding them under the bushes ;-)? LOL!
Mamta
"oldies" yes I realise the older the egg the more it will spread but the way I'm cooking them means they drop to the bottom of the water on to the pan surface and lie flat. Where dropping them into the middle of a deeper pan of swirling water makes it set up in a more of a ball shape so they are taller and not as spead out...
Steve
hahahahha yeah I definitely would want them hidden.
For many years I would buy supermarket eggs, not giving a thought as to the conditions of the poor chooks.Also they were always cheaper then free-range.
Then my husband decided he wanted to have a chook run and as we only have a medium sized garden I said 3 hens were the limit..... Well my girls are great layers and give us the most beautiful eggs....beautiful yolks
I love making sponge cakes with them, so light and fluffy.
June
A few pics to compare -
This is what dropping them into deep swirling water gives you coddled/poached egg 1 and this coddled/poached egg 2 both of those look quite thick or tall and slightly ball shapped (like a half deflated football?)
This is a fried egg which you can see is much flatter in the pan.
and as you can see mine in the shallow water are much the same as the fried egg, as they spread out more before they setup... water fried eggs
(who would have thought a topic on cooking an egg would stretch this far... lol)
Steve
How many chickens would an average family need to keep them in eggs for the week? If you consider we buy 6-12 eggs a week depending on breakfasts/baking etc..
Would it also affect the chickens well being by not having enough companionship? If you only had one chicken would it affect its laying etc ?
Steve
Chickens are very social creatures so one would not suffice... it may become morose if a loner and would definitely not lay.
Ours are very tame now and we have had them for 3 1/2 years.We consider them family pets with the added bonus they lay eggs hahaha
The average chook will lay in the vicinity of 200 eggs in its first year, and as they get older the amount will diminish slowly. Of course when they moult you may not get eggs for weeks, but thank goodness they do not all moult at the same time!
Towards the end of last year my husband decided he wanted to breed chickens, so he got 5 fertilized eggs which he put under one of the broody chooks and after 21days we had 5 chicks which the 'mother' hen looked after. When older we gave the chicks to friends and kept one and with the other 3 and they are one big happy family.
Of the 5 chicks one turned out to be a rooster but the lass who has him loves him so much. In suburbia we are not allowed to keep roosters for obvious reasons but this lass puts him in the laundry to sleep every night LOL.