Chef Jenna Helwig demonstrates poaching techniques.
I'm Jenna Helwig, a private chef and Parents contributor. We're going to walk you through how to poach. You can poach all sorts of things, you can poach fish, you can poach chicken, you can poach fruit. And today, we're going to poach eggs. And to poach just means to cook something very gently in very gently simmering water. So that's what I have here. I brought the water up to a boil first, and then drop the heat down a little bit so it's just gently simmering. Adding just a couple of teaspoons full of vinegar to the water helps the egg whites set up a little more. So we're gonna do 2 eggs, so we'll add 2 teaspoons. You'll see that I already cracked the eggs into these ramekins. By not cracking the eggs directly into the water, that also helps the eggs set up a little bit better. So we're just gonna slide it in very gently right into the water, like that. There's 1 and 1 more. So we'll let these cook for 3 or 4 minutes. You can poach in many different kinds of liquids. Since we want our eggs to taste like eggs and not something else, we're using water, but you could also use wine, you could use stock, you could use fruit juice, all sorts of things. So the eggs are poaching really nicely, you can tell because the whites are starting to come up. Poaching is a great way to cook if you are watching what you eat because since there isn't any added fat, it's also lower in calories and healthier. Okay, I'm going to use a slotted spoon now to lift out the eggs, and I'm gonna put it right here on a paper towel. Another trick for poached eggs is if you find that it looks a little messy around the edges, you can always just use a pair of scissors and clean them up a little bit. So that's how you poach.
