An egg poacher is a device used to cook eggs in boiling water, producing evenly shaped poached eggs. Electric and pot poaching inserts are available. Poached eggs are a popular breakfast food due to their high protein content and light flavor. Poachers can be used in a saucepan with a matching lid, and eggs can also be poached without a poacher by gently cracking them into simmering water with vinegar.
An egg poacher is a piece of cookware meant to facilitate cooking an egg in a particular way. Using a poacher will always produce crisp, evenly shaped poached eggs, and for people who poach a lot of eggs, the device can be very helpful. Many kitchen supply stores sell electric poachers or pot poaching inserts.
When an egg is poached, it’s not being illegally stolen in the middle of the night, as the name might suggest. Poached eggs are in fact simply cooked in boiling water gently until they solidify. Some cooks prefer to leave the yolks of their poached eggs slightly runny, while others cook their eggs all the way through, due to food safety concerns. Poached eggs are a popular breakfast food, especially on toast with freshly cracked salt and pepper.
Because eggs are high in protein, they’re a good choice in the morning, and because poached eggs aren’t fried in oil, they don’t have any additional fat. They also have a light, clear flavor that some consumers like. While it’s certainly possible to sear eggs in an open skillet, and many people do, a poacher makes the process much neater.
An electric poacher is a plug-in device that has slots for eggs above a reservoir for water. A poaching insert for stovetop cooking is often sold bundled with a matching saucepan. The egg poacher itself is a metal insert that fits inside a saucepan, much like a double boiler. The poacher’s surface is ridged with egg-sized depressions and may include a handle for easy lifting. An egg poacher should ideally be used in a saucepan that has a matching lid. A variant of the design is an egg cup designed for poaching. Poached egg cups can be floated in a poaching pan, but are slightly bulkier than the insert design.
To cook eggs in a poacher, the cook fills the saucepan with water, inserts the poacher, and drops the dimples into the poacher. When the water boils, the cook cracks an egg into each dimple and covers the saucepan so the eggs cook. When the eggs become solid, they can be turned off and served. Electric egg poachers work on a similar principle.
Cooks without access to a poacher can also poach eggs, though it requires more skill. A pot of water with a dash of vinegar should be brought to a simmer, before the eggs are gently cracked into the water. Some cooks find it easier to crack the eggs into small dishes and then slide the eggs off the dishes into the water. When the eggs are cooked to your satisfaction, they can be lifted out of the water into a slotted spoon and dumped.
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