The poached egg!

I said when I reviewed Hive Beach Café that I'd eaten the best poached eggs I'd had in years.

Sometimes when you sample food on holiday the memory stays with you – whether bad or good! In this instance good. I came home and was inspired to replicate the Smoked Salmon Benedict dish.

You'd think that a poached egg and toast were the easiest elements in the world to cook – and then I remembered there's a certain knack to a poached egg. I don't use any of the kit you can buy, for example silicone pods, poaching pans, microwaveable kit, et al and don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with any of them if that's your bag. I'm a saucepan of simmering water and a couple of shakes of malt vinegar gal and the only physical kit is my timer. That's before we even get started on the Hollandaise Sauce so you've got double trouble!

If you are a certain age and spent any time in your family kitchen then you'll have been brought up poaching eggs this way. There are however hints and tips that might be helpful if you want to have a go.

Here are mine :

Make sure your eggs are fresh.

Use the correct size of saucepan – you need room to move with your slotted spoon. The pan I use measures 19cms in diameter (7 ½” in old money).

If you aren't confident breaking an egg into simmering water then don't – break gently into a saucer – it's easier to slide in.

It takes approximately 3 minutes to poach a large egg – set your stall out – if you don't you'll finish up with a cold poached egg!

Arm yourself with kitchen roll and a slotted spoon. They serve a very useful purpose, have a couple of sheets of kitchen roll ready, when you lift out your egg with the slotted spoon set it on top of the kitchen roll to absorb any excess water.

I've always added a couple of drops of malt vinegar to the water, there'll be others who will disagree. I was taught that it helps the whites cook and so you don't get lots of wispy bits. Whilst I'm on the subject don't add any salt to the water, if you do you'll loosen the whites.

Finally, don't try and be clever and poach too many eggs at a time, it may be a bit of a faff but you want to serve your eggs hot on your buttered muffin so I'd opt for two. They don't take long to cook and it's better than cold poached eggs.

It may be old fashioned but it works for me!

Photo guide up next.