Friday, November 14, 2014

A New Egg Poacher

A poached egg.  A little shredded cheddar cheese.  An English Muffin on the side.  That is a spectacular breakfast.  A "Breakfast of Champions" as far as I'm concerned.

We recently purchased a new 4 cup egg poacher.  We had a good result which you will read about below.


I ordered this from Bed, Bath & Beyond.  I had a 20% off coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to use it to make this purchase.


This is a very nice pan, very heavy, high quality pan with a heat-proof handle.  Always remember to check and see if any cookware you are buying has a heat-proof handle.  That is very important.  My Cooks Essentials brand has heat-proof handles.  Not that you can't grab a pot holder when working with cookware that does not have heat proof handles, but why deal with that if you don't have to.


For poached eggs, add one-half inch of cold water and one teaspoon of white distilled vinegar to the pan.


The egg cups are non-stick, but I sprayed each with a little Pam Butter Flavor just as an added precaution.  It certainly doesn't hurt to do this.


Take the cups out and spray them and then put them back in.  Otherwise, you'll have cooking spray all over the stop of the pan.  It's just easier to remove them, spray and then put them back than to have cooking spray all over everything.


As I said earlier, a teaspoon of white distilled vinegar added to the water in the bottom of the pan.


Place the pan on the stove top with the lid and let the water come to a boil.  It is only a half inch of water, so this step takes hardly any time.


I cracked each egg directly into the egg cups.  Before I knew it, they had already started to firm.  For my taste, I like poached eggs well cooked.  I like the center to be nice and firm.  No runny eggs for me.


The directions state to let the eggs cook for 3 - 4 minutes.  If you want the yolk very soft and not fully cooked, that will work.  If you want them firm. leave them in for at least another 3 - 4 minutes.  As the water boils it rises and covers the bottom of the egg cups and that hot, steaming water is what cooks the egg.


I felt like shredded cheddar cheese this morning.  But you could just as easily add a slice of Canadian bacon and some hollandaise for an eggs benedict breakfast.  You could make egg muffins using English muffins.  Add what you like or what your guests like.

Using this pan makes the whole process of poaching eggs so easy and fast.  If you are preparing for a crowd, this is the only way to go.  Also, if you remove the insert with the egg cups, it makes a wonderful little saute pan.  You could easily put together a fresh hollandaise sauce in the same pan you poached the eggs.  Or a beurre blanc.  Whatever you like.

This is a very nice pan which I highly recommend.  It retails at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $29.95.  That may sound a little pricey for an egg poacher, but it is worth it.  The quality is great.  It has a nice thick, heavy bottom which distributes the heat evenly.  And if you have a 20% off coupon, you will save $5.99.  You will never go wrong buying quality cookware.  And this is quality.

Happy poaching!!!