A top chef has revealed how to make the perfect poached egg, and he doesn’t use an ingredient commonly added to the dish. Paul Foster previously owned Salt, a lauded restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon that he operated for eight years, and which was awarded two Michelin stars.
The high-end cooking veteran, who recently started his own YouTube channel, Food Unfiltered, has a sizeable presence on social media. He’s shared numerous cooking tips on his @PaulFosterChef TikTok channel, where he’s amassed some 141,000 followers.
In one video, he reveals his top tips for getting poached eggs just right, a tricky task which he notes is a “nemesis for a lot of people”, as reported by MailOnline.
He puts a pan of water on the hob and sprinkles some salt in but stresses, “do not add vinegar”, adding “whatever people tell you, you do not need it”.
Paul then cracks an egg into a sieve with a bowl underneath it to remove “water bits of the white”. He recommends using as “fresh an egg as possible”, making sure that it’s at room temperature.
Once the water in the pan is boiling, he turns it down to “just a little boil” and gives it a quick stir to get the water moving and prevent the egg from sticking. He then sets a two-minute timer but notes that it can take longer.
After that he lifts the egg out on a spoon to check it. By this stage the water isn’t boiling but Paul says people shouldn’t be tempted to turn the heat up.
Paul felt the white was still a bit raw in his demonstration, so put it back in the water to cook for 30 seconds more.
After it’s cooked to his satisfaction, he lifts it out with a spoon and onto a paper napkin to soak up some of the moisture. He then seasons it with a pinch of sea salt and cracked pepper and puts it on a plate once the excess water’s gone.
Finally, the chef cuts into the cooked egg to reveal the bright orange and runny yolk, and perfectly cooked whites, adding “you can’t get better than that”.
