One of my projects this year (I refuse to call it a New Year's resolution, because that is the kiss of death) is to follow up on more of the recipes that catch my eye.  I have a terrible habit of bookmarking recipes and then never making them, settling instead for eating the same meals day after day.  

What caught my eye this week wasn't even a recipe, but a procedure.  As I flipped through my copy of Sunset's Easy Basics for Good Cooking, I paused on the section about poached eggs.  Your classic poached egg is tender, with a runny yolk.  This used to appeal to me as a kid, smearing my squares of toast around to mop up the last of the delicious yolk.  

I had lost that taste as an adult, with tales of salmonella dancing in my head.  But now that I have my own pet chickens, and I know that their eggs are free of harmful bacteria, I decided it was time to return to a world before every egg was overcooked.  A kinder gentler time, when eggs weren't crisped within an ounce of their life in a pan.

I also have been having trouble with my nonstick pan, which has decided - despite my tender ministrations and considerations - that it is tired of being nonstick.  If I want to fry eggs now, I really have to fry them in oil or butter.  Not so great for the diet, you know?

One benefit to poached eggs over other methods is that, since they are cooked in water, their cooking doesn't require any additional fat.  To poach an egg, you essentially boil it very gently.  There are at least half a dozen methods for poaching an egg.  I spent every delicious breakfast this week testing them out.

Microwave Poached Eggs: I remember having tried this before, back in the 80s when microwave cooking was at its height.  As I recall, every single time I tried it, my eggs exploded.  And yet, there are all these instructions for microwave poached eggs on the internet.  Surely my experience must have been unusual, or mis-remembered!

I tried it.  My eggs exploded.  I spent ten minutes cleaning soggy egg goop off the inside of my microwave.  Pity, too, because this would be a fast and non-labor-intensive method.

In A Pan, #1: Purists insist that you poach an egg by bringing water to a boil, slipping the eggs into the water, then putting a lid on the pan and removing it from the heat.  I tried this several times, but my eggs repeatedly failed to cook.  Like, at all.  I don't mind a runny yolk, but I will not stand for egg whites that are still clear.

In A Pan, #2: This method worked the best for me.  And by the way, you really do need to add a splash of vinegar.  Just out of curiosity one time I decided to omit the vinegar.  Big mistake!  I ended up with a foamy bubbly mess of egg white scum.

Another thing I learned in the Great Poaching Experiment is that it doesn't do to fill the pan with too much water.  The egg will always sink, so you might as well only put in an inch or two.  And the more water you add, the longer it takes to boil.

Creative Commons licensed picture courtesy of Flickr user vidalia_11