[Sca-cooks] poached eggs

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 5, 2010, at 11:09 PM, Robert Dunn wrote:

> I read (and tested) that adding a splash of vinegar to the boiling water will help hold the egg whites together when poaching.  It makes for a cleaner presentation too.

Yes, an acid pH to the cooking water can help the proteins coagulate faster, as in a second or two faster, before there's time for the whites to flow around in whatever currents there are in the cooking liquid.

Real fanatics will poach in a deep pot of simmering acidulated water which they have stirred into a "whirlpool" effect immediately before adding the egg... sometimes you can get a nearly spherical poached egg that way. As I recall, Julia Child was a fan of that technique.

Adamantius






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