Conquering My Food Fears

I'm not quite sure why, but up until today, I've never been able to make a good poached egg. Any attempt I've made in the last decade has just turned into a gross mess of egg whites mixed with swirling water, not those cute puffy poached eggs that you see in magazines. I had given up completely, until this morning.

After getting a little push, I decided to try poached eggs again. I broke out my trusty Joy of Cooking cookbook from 1974 and looked up the recipe for poached eggs. Just to make sure that poached eggs haven't changed in the past 30 years, I double checked my Martha Stewart cookbook. Certainly she would know how to make a poached egg. Both said the same thing... Amber, this is easy. Stop stressing and cook the damn egg already.

Boil then simmer water, check. Add some vinegar, check. Slip egg into water, check.

That's it? What have I been doing all these years, trying to poach an egg with a pizza slicer? I'm not sure why I've been failing so miserably. My guess is that I've been trying to hard - Using special pans, special spoons, special water. There's definitely some egg poaching devices in my cupboard that will be sold at my next garage sale.

So now that I have poached eggs down, what's next? Puffed pastry? Whole fish? Maybe fresh pasta? Okay, maybe I'll just stick with the eggs for now.

PS: Here's how I made my poached egg on the first try:

- Put about an inch of water in a pan and bring to a boil. Make sure there's enough water to cover the egg. I think that was one of my big problems in the past.
- Add about a tablespoon of white vinegar. I'm not sure what this does, but both cookbooks called for it.
- When water comes to a boil, reduce heat until bubbles are just breaking the water. I think that's another problem I had in the past. The water was simmering too much, causing the egg to jump around and break apart.
- Break egg into a small dish. Place dish in water and quickly slide egg into water.
- Simmer for about 3-4 minutes.