PERFECT POACHED EGG

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PERFECT POACHED EGG image

Categories     Egg     Breakfast     Brunch     Poach     Quick & Easy

Yield 2

Number Of Ingredients 3

1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 large eggs
Coarse sea salt (such as Maldon)

Steps:

  • Crack an egg, drop it into boiling water, and you'll get a poached egg, right? If it were that simple, there wouldn't be a million egg- poaching gadgets on the market. For clarity, we consulted the perfectionists at Thomas Keller's Per Se in New York, where chef de cuisine Eli Kaimeh gave us his numbe-one piece of advice: Start with a fresh egg. As an egg ages, the white deteriorates, which is why some poached eggs go floppy, surrounded by jellyfish-like tendrils of whites. At Per Se they put the raw egg in vinegar before cooking, which tightens the white so it's less likely to spread out. Instead of dropping the egg into simmering water, they stir the boiling liquid until it forms a whirlpool. The egg is placed in the vortex, creating the compact shape you see at restaurants that can be hard to achieve at home. Then they simmer it for exactly two minutes. That's the magic number to yield a cooked-through yet tender white and a thickened but runny yolk. You want "a lava-like flow of the yolk," says Kaimeh. And lots of buttered toast to go with it.

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