The Perfect Poached Egg

I got sick fairly frequently as a kid. My daughter hasn't missed any days from school because of illness, but I stayed home probably 5-10 days a year. These were no fake, Ferris Bueller days home either. I was always miserable with a heavy cold, and/or fever, and/or puking, and/or diarrhea, and/or imminent death. Whenever I was sick, my mom would make me a poached egg on a piece of buttered toast. Ever since those days, the poached egg is my go-to comfort food of choice. 

Mom taught me to make one when I was just a kid. So I've considered myself a poached egg master for as long as I can remember. However, I've learned recently that making a poached egg isn't an easy thing to perfect and I've been doing it wrong. The reality show Master Chef with Gordon Ramsey had a challenge where the contestants had to make a perfect poached egg. The culinary technique for cooking a poached egg involves adding a little vinegar to the water so the egg white is stronger and stirring the water when you add the egg so that the white forms a symmetrical sphere around the yolk as it cooks. 

Mobile link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JbAQgJF3d7E 

Honestly, I think my method of cooking a poached egg is the best. The egg white doesn't need to be this cute little ball around the yolk. It's perfectly fine as a flat, shapeless blob covering a piece of toast topped with a warm layer of butter. In the Master Chef challenge, they add vinegar to the water to strengthen the yolk. What?? There's no need for this. The yolk is perfectly fine as long as you start with a decent egg. The world needs to hear the Liebenow Method for creating poached eggs!! Unfortunately, my daughter doesn't like egg yolk when it's all runny, so I can't pass this knowledge down to her. So, I'm writing the recipe here on this blog in the hopes that future generations will see how it's done.

The most important part of the poached egg is obviously the egg. You need to get your eggs from happy, free-range chickens.

The happiest poultry in Knoxville--unless they're running from the neighborhood hawk

I can see a marked difference between some free-range--even cage-free--eggs and regular eggs. Regular egg shells are more brittle and the yolk often breaks when I try to poach or fry it. I know the term 'cage-free' is a bit deceptive. Just because cage-free chickens aren't in a cage doesn't mean they'll ever see the outdoors. They're also probably in a building with many other chickens. Free-range often isn't much better. The chickens technically have access to the outdoors but this means different things to different farmers in the U.S. Some farmers allow their chickens plenty of room to roam around, while others are more abusive and only permit their poultry tiny outdoor spaces. This is the bare minimum, so the farmers can use the 'free-range' label and charge more for the eggs. PBS did a great short film about this called "Story of an Egg." It's only 6 minutes; you should watch it when you get a chance.

So apparently, you should look for 'Pasture-Raised' chickens now

The moral is, there's no telling if the 'free-range' eggs you get at the grocery store are from happy chickens or terrorized animals with their beaks chopped off so they don't kill each other. The free-range eggs I get at Earth Fare here in Knoxville (our version of Whole Foods) seem to be better quality with harder shells and tougher yolks than the cage-free eggs I buy at Trader Joe's. Eggland's Best cage-free eggs seem to be somewhere between those two, but I don't know for sure how those chickens were treated. For this reason, I'm extremely happy that the city of Knoxville allows us to have up to five egg-laying hens. I know the chickies lead a happy life because they leave us presents every day.

Three of our chickens lay blue eggs; how cool is that?

Our eggs are the highest quality. Tough shells and the yolks are a deep orange color, indicating the chickens forage the grass in our backyard daily.

So, I've got perfect eggs. How about the toast that makes my poached egg complete? How can I possibly enjoy this dish if I eat gluten-free? Fortunately, my sister came to the rescue. She visited earlier this year and told me about this fantastic gluten-free, multigrain bread from Schär. 

Since I eat through a tube, I have no idea how it tastes; but I'm told it's delicious

I have the proper ingredients. Step one for the Liebenow Poached Egg is to bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. As soon as the water starts boiling, turn the burner down to med/low and start toasting the bread in the toaster.

I'm making two poached eggs actually

Right after starting the toaster, you simply crack the egg gently into the water. Be careful not to break the yolk. The best way to do this is crack the egg as close to the boiling water as possible, or crack the egg into a small bowl beforehand, then gingerly dump it into the hot water.

The toaster serves two purposes. The first is that it toasts the bread (duh). The second reason for toasting right before you put the egg in is that it is your 'timer'. As soon as the toast pops and the bread is buttered, the egg is ready to be taken out of the water.

Such a lovely floral design on our wedding plates

Use a slotted spoon, and delicately lift the egg out of the water and deposit it on the toast.

I won't eat toast any other way

The acid test is where you cut into the egg and see if a hot river of silky smooth yolk pours out and soaks into your toast.

 

Beats Gordon Ramsay's poached egg any day of the week

Astoundingly, Betsy and Grace both don't care for poached eggs, but that just leaves more for me. Delicious!!