I guess an egg poached in it’s shell is a boiled egg. But, it’s not eaten that way. This method of poaching eggs was first written about by Julia Child, that doyenne of French Cooking. It is indeed a French method and is the best and easiest way to poach eggs, especially if your eggs aren’t super fresh.
This recipe is designed for eggs that are around a week or more old. Really fresh eggs are too hard to peeel.
What you’ll need: A timer (I use my iPhone), a saucepan or a Thermomix (see instructions for the TM below) a pin, a bowl of ice-cold water.
Pop a saucepan of water on to boil. Prick the rounder, fatter end of each egg with a pin, being careful not to go too deep and break the membrane.
When water is boiling, add eggs and set timer for 6 minutes (for large eggs, 5 ½ for smaller ones).
Pop your toast down part way through.
When time is up, remove eggs with a slotted spoon to the bowl of iced water. (If you have asbestos hands, don’t worry about this step.) Leave for a second or so to cool down and then gently roll and tap egg on the bench to break the shell all over.
Remove the top part of the shell, insert a teaspoon and slide it all the way around to remove remaining shell.
This photo was a bit blurry as our cat was up on the bench trying to check out what I was doing! I was pushing him away with my head as both hands were full!!
Work quickly to ensure remaining eggs don’t get too cool if you’re doing a few eggs at a time.
The cat enjoyed licking the plate. (Don’t worry, it goes in the dishwasher afterwards!)
