Thank you so much for posting these details. When I was very young, my aunt gave us a special pan with individual egg cups that fit into a tray over a steamer. I used it all the time as a child. Now that I'm older, I couldn't remember exactly how I used to do that. You reminded me - so now I can make eggs that same way again. This method is so much easier than poaching ... and so much easier than trying to peel a soft boiled egg and serve it piping hot. This is so perfect. Thank you!
You peel your soft boiled egg? I crack the top off & eat from the shell, but a couple times, I've cracked a goodly piece of the top off, & then with my spoon, just scooped the whole egg out of the shell to put it on toast. Comes out in one fell swoop. (The bit in the top is my bonus bite.)
My English Irish grandmother from Kent used to have an English version of this in the 70s / 80s when I was a kid, it was essentially a pan with little holders to put little round metal bowls for eggs, then she'd put the water in to boil, add a bit of butter for each egg & put a lid on. Came out like this, perfect. I improvise a similar technique with little Indian metal thali dishes in a saucepan with gently simmering water & a lid nowadays. Never seen one of those poacher contraptions my gran had ever since.
I discovered this method myself. I had a steamer pan in the cupboard very similar to the one shown in this video. I hadn't used the pan for years. Then i discovered that it fitted snugly inside a saucepan. Somewhere in my brain a light went on and I grabbed a ramekin dish. Buttered it lightly, then broke an egg in. Some water in the bottom pan and a lid on top, and 4 minutes later I had a perfect egg!
This is a terrific method thank you! Preferring a more solid egg I tried the 8 minute one with no eggspectations (sorry!) and it was perfect. So easy and such a surprise. No more messy pans and lost egg whites for me.
WOW this is a GAME CHANGER...especially when you trying to prepare hard boiled eggs. NO MORE messy cracking the shells and the boiled egg falls apart. ThANKUUUUU
I do this in the microwave. Crack one or two eggs on a dish (maybe with some food you want to warm up) put a lid on it. In a couple of minutes you find a beautiful ‘baked’ egg on your meal.
@@evavantschip524 7 months ago i didnt have always have access to a microwave, due to moving home many times. Now i´m settled i to am using a microwave to cook my eggs! its far quicker and less messy!
In the 70's it was very common to find egg poachers that were dishes with indentations to hold the egg and little vapor holes on the side. You filled the pan with about an inch of water and dropped the tray with the eggs on top, then put the cover on. A small amount of butter could be put in the tray to keep the eggs from sticking, but also for a great flavor. It worked exactly the same as shown here. However, when microwave ovens came out, they seemed to have disappeared.
They sell small egg poaching pans that have a regular cover to keep steam in and a slotted cover with 4 dimples to put 4 eggs in. Technically eggs cooked in water are poached while eggs in a container cooked by steam are coddled. I'm not fussy, they're all good.
This looks pretty good I've been frying my eggs for years and I know it's unhealthy but short of regular boiling them whole or poaching them I didn't know an optional way. It sounds like I could use this same method if I just wanted to cook one or two instead of four at a time so if I understand this correctly you put a spoonful of water in a bowl and then steam it.
Well, I microwave each egg for 30 secs and get the same result. I have to wash one cup. You take 7 mins to get the water boiling, 4 mins to cook the egg. You have to wash the cup plus the pan and you waste water. I think a microwave is far more efficient. 30 secs vs 11 mins. Second point is - You are steaming the egg not poaching it. Poaching means you put water and vinegar in a pan, bring it to a simmer, then slip the egg in. You can use a cookie mold too but the egg must have contact with the water.
Is there a chance of the yoke bursting? Do you place the egg like shown with water in a bowl! Thanks for placing value on the time using the microwave. Must try it! It's better than half or quarter boiled egg as getting spooning them out of the shell gets messy and wasteful! Thanks
I do this cracked into water method with my eggs too but instead of a steamer I just pop them into the microwave, just under a minute at max power depending upon your wattage. Just experiment to find the right amount of time for yours. Much less faff and washing up.
Yes, yes, but there is a difference between steamed eggs and poached eggs. The secret to poaching eggs has nothing to do with technique. If you don't start with fresh eggs, the runny white just messes everything up. Fresh eggs have very little (if any) runny white. No ramekin or swirling the water to cook one at-a-time. Fresh eggs can be cracked right over the heated water (gently of course). Much less clean up...one sauce pan.
