The poached egg challenge

Ok then. I listened to @891adelaide today where Ian Henschke sought out the best poached egg method. The contenders were:

Spence Denny
Caller
Andre Ursini
Rosa Matto

I'm a method cook. Recipes annoy me. And all these people were talking in terms of method. My language. So I decided that this weekend I'd try them all out. One thing in common. They all agreed that you need very fresh eggs. So for tonight, sorry chooks


I just had to raid your box


But it doesn't get too much fresher. Then Spence's method prescribed boiling water, some vinegar and salt, break the eggs into the boiling water for as long as it takes the toast to cook, pull the eggs out with a slotted spoon.


And I must say that, given a gentle break into the water, Spence's benchmark of "looks just like an egg without the shell" seemed to hold true.


And with some Tamarillo chutney that my mother-in-law made with fruit from my tree - just magic.

I know I'm tainting the test in tasting it with chutney but I'm sure I'll run out of steam and get less scientific very soon. Maybe even right now that I've found a method that works.

I am interested in Rosa's method though, with just water and a shallow pan.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone