How NOT to poach an egg.....

[osprey]

Read here

http://www.b3ta.com/features/howtopoachanegg/

for some really ghastly efforts, including one from Delia Smith who somewhat bizzarely suggests poaching the egg for 10 minutes! 10 minutes - I ask you!!

[jennyp]

I don't know how long, but I find using a clean frying pan -with water of course -helps to be able to see the eggs, and get them out easily.

[Postdog]

That's what I do now - I poach them as I would frying them, obviously using water (brought to the boil) instead of oil. Some white tends to break off, but other than that, they are fine.

[cameo]

i'm really cr@p at poaching eggs but i like the sound of the cling film method - i'm definately going to give it a try!

[naz_nomad]

10 minutes ... they'd be like a squash-ball

[meltoadhall]

like the cling film idea, have chooks and too many eggs - cling filmed eggs for tea

[crete]

riffeting just riffeting

[Lonnie]

I still do mine the way my mother did it, the only celeb cook aroud was Fanny Craddock.

Boil water in a small saucepan, add a touch of vinegar, drop raw egg in, once the yolk has been covered with the white, its done, a minute at the most, beautiful.

[crete]

was johnnie with fanny ?

[Gef]

Don't even bother trying to poach them unless they are really fresh - only a couple of days old at most which rules out any bought in the supermarket.

[mysticman]

The older an egg is, the runnier the white becomes - having a watery edge when cracked. fresh eggs have a firm white.

Vinegar is used to harden the watery part of the white - so no need to use it on fresh eggs.

Clingfilm wins it for me.

[Oneeyedvic]

I watched one of the Saturday morning chefs do the vortex method a couple of weeks ago - turned out perfectly.