How do you like your poached eggs? Perfect we hope and this little gadget from OXO does the job just right
When I was a very small foodie I used to love poached eggs in what I called the Igloo Style. My parents had this special pan which cooked three eggs at a time in little moulds over boiling water.
Once done they were inverted over my golden toasted Mother’s Pride bread and a perfect dome of white was ready to be punctured by my eager little knife, allowing the golden yolk to run out over my plate. Bliss it was to be alive on a Sunday morning, with Ed’Stewpot’ Stewart on the radio.
Fast forward a few years well, decades actually, and you find me standing over a pan of simmering vinegared water that I’ve just stirred rapidly to create a whirlpool and I’m gently sliding an egg into the centre of the vortex.
Why am I doing this? To create the perfect restaurant/hotel poached egg. A ball of white that can be eaten as is, or used to make Eggs Benedict, that most grown up of breakfast dishes.
Except of course nine times out of ten the bloody egg breaks or all the white flies away. I don’t need that kind of trauma at breakfast, who does?
So enter OXO and their Good Grips Egg Poacher. It’s pure genius. You put the half with the holes into a pan and add water up to the’neck’. When the water is boiling gently you crack an egg into the top half and it slides down to the submerged section.
Then you wait.
About three minutes I find, but it’s not specific. Lift out the poacher using the grip tab on the top and there is your ball of poached egg ready to be taken out with a slotted spoon. Brilliant. Never fails, as long as you don’t let the water boil too madly.
It’s made from silicone, so it’s pretty much indestructible and definitely dishwasher safe, and you can fold one half over over for storage as it’s so flexible.
They are usually sold as pairs so partners can share in the goodness.
It’s a briliantly simple idea, although, some days, I have to say I do miss my old igloo and even Ed Stewart.
Buy the OXO Good Grips Egg Poacher at Lakeland, Amazon and John Lewis among others at around £12 the pair