Perfect Poached Eggs

Being able to cook a good egg is an essential B&B owner's skill. Unfortunately I don't eat boiled, poached or fried eggs so learning how to cook them properly has not been an easy task.

My number one rule of cooking is never to cook a meal for someone else that I won't eat myself - how else can you know if something tastes good or not? However if I were to turn to guests and tell them I didn't do eggs I'd have an empty B&B.

Luckily my husband is an avid egg eater and we have 23 free range rare breed hens to produce lots of supplies to practise with.

One of my biggest trials has been poached eggs. They are the eggs that are must luckily to go wrong. And if they do go wrong it messes up the whole breakfast timings as you need to wait at least another 3 minutes. But I have a solution!

A Guide to Perfect Poached Eggs served at the same time as the rest of your Breakfast!

1. Choose really fresh eggs. I only use eggs that are less than 5 days old. I am lucky in that I know what day my eggs are laid and the name of the chicken who laid them. If you aren't in a similar situation then I suggest you make friend with your local free range egg supplier.

2. A word about fancy eggs. I have Cream Legbar Hens that lay very pretty blue eggs but I have never successfully poached one, even a "freshly laid in the last hour" egg. You put it in the water and it just disintegrates. Someone told me that this is because the protein in the white is different to normal eggs. So keep these for boiled or scrambled ( they don't fry well for the same reason ). The golden yolk looks beautiful against the blue of the shell if you boil them.

3. Start with a small saucepan of boiling water to which you have added a good slug of distilled white vinegar. I haven't measured a "slug" but you are probably talking a good sherry glass full.

4. With the water boiling, tip the egg into the water. I do stir it beforehand. If you want to get fancy you can whisk the water with a balloon whisk and then you eggs will come out in the shape of torpedoes!

5. Boil for exactly 3 minutes then fish out with a slotted spoon. Rest the slotted spoon on a wad of kitchen towl to absorb any water.

6. Now my trick of the trade. I always pre cook my poached eggs at the start of breakfast time. As soon as the timer goes off I plunge them into iced water to cool them rapidly. Then when it's time to serve up I put them in boiling water for a minute to reheat. This reduced the stress levels considerably because if they do go wrong you have time to sort it out!