The elusive perfect poached egg!

For many years I have been a huge fan of Eggs Benedict. A crisp, toasted muffin, butter melting and dripping over the sides, a couple of slices of smoked ham, a perfectly poached egg, as soft as the down on a new born duckling, all covered in Hollandaise Sauce, warm, luxuriantly rich and oh so naughty! The first two are very simple to achieve. The third is slightly harder, but not out of reach of us mere mortals. The fourth on the other hand, is bloody nearly impossible!! I have thrown away so many eggs from hollandaise gone wrong, I am sure I must be on some sort of chicken hit list.

As I say, the first two parts need no comment or instruction, so I will jump straight to the poached egg. Traditional egg poaching is not something that many people feel comfortable with. These days, there are pans and pouches and disposable bags that take the majority of the fear and mystery out of poaching and yet, that said, poaching an egg is still something that most people steer well clear of.

I shall endeavour to give some pointers to enable you to produce the perfect poached egg. This is by no means the only or the best way, however it always produces the soft eggs that I love, sometimes a little too soft I admit, but I have always passionately loathed overcooked eggs so would rather risk soft whites than hard yolks. To produce the best, round and compact poached eggs, you must have the freshest eggs possible.

Always use a pan that seems far too big for the job. I find a sauté or chef's pan is best as you can get a spoon in easily to lift and test the eggs without risking them breaking. You will need at least a three inch depth of water. Add a splash of vinegar and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down until you have a simmer. Some people suggest having the water swirling around the pan. I have always found that this really doesn't work and just creates a mess, but maybe I'm just doing it wrong. I always have the water as stationary as possible.

Break all your eggs into ramekins, a separate one for each egg. Gently lower the ramekin into the water at an angle. Holding one edge, allow a small amount of water to come over the opposite edge of the ramekin and, very gently, pour the egg into the water. As quickly as possible add all the other eggs to the water in the same way, hence the need for all the ramekins and the pre-cracked eggs. Start on the far side of the pan and work in a clockwise direction. That way you will know which went in first and they can come out in the same order, having all had the same length of time in the water.

Using a slotted spoon, carefully get under each egg to ensure that they don't stick. Once they have started to set, you can turn up the heat a little to create a small amount of movement in the water. As you can't cut an egg to see how cooked it is on the inside, you will need to rely on touch. Lift the first egg in out of the water and gently press the top. You will be able to judge how soft or hard it is.

There are now two options for you. If you are eating them immediately, cook to your preference, remove with a slotted spoon to remove excess water and serve. If you want to keep them for later use you can always cook them so that they are just under how you want them to be, take them out of the pan and transfer them to cold water to halt the cooking. To reheat them, which will also finish the cooking, either put them back in boiling water or in a steamer. This is a great way to reduce time in the kitchen when you should be with your guests.

The last and certainly the hardest stage of Eggs Benedict is the Hollandaise Sauce. I am sure I am not the only one out there who has problems with this sauce and, unwilling to give up having Benedict on a Sunday night, I have tried every packet, jar and pouch out there and had never found anything that comes close to the proper, restaurant quality stuff. They ranged from the barely bareable to the downright rancid! Then, just like buses, two solutions come bounding along together, much to the delight of my taste buds! The first is a pouch by a company called Potts'. It is suitable to keep in the cupboard so there is no need to worry about it going off. I found it in Tesco, £1.80 for a 200g pouch. Whilst it is not the fresh stuff, it holds its own and now has a permanent place in my cupboard. I have also discovered that these guys have a whole range of sauces, both sweet and savoury, all suitable for the cupboard and all available on line and in the supermarket!! Three cheers for Potts!!

The second solution is courtesy of my sister-in-law. Caroline has always made her hollandaise from scratch and has never had an issue. I was mesmerised by the knowledge that someone in the family can produce this liquid gold. How can a mere mortal be blessed with the almost mystical gift of sublime hollandaise production? Is she some kind of alchemist? No, she cheats! Caroline, I apologise, this may seem a tad harsh as cheating is far too strong a term I admit, however what else is a short cut if not a cheat, albeit well intentioned and with the most fantastic results? What she has managed to do is to a produce great and seemingly nigh on impossible sauce without any of the poncy, chef-like naffing about that has always seemed to be key! She has trimmed the recipe down, cut out 75% of the effort and yet, at the end, she has the most fantastic hollandaise that I challenge you say is not up there with the restaurant stuff. And, she does it at home. Yippee!! There is hope for me!

I will now put a recipe book recipe along side Caroline's and let you compare and judge! Both will produce enough for four generous or six normal helpings.

Michel Roux's version	Caroline’s version
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 1 teaspoon white peppercorns, crushed 4 egg yolks 250g butter, clarified (melted butter with the milk solids and water removed), cooled to tepid Salt to taste Juice of ½ lemon	2 egg yolks 250g butter, ice cold in small cubes Lemon juice to taste
In a thick-bottomed stainless steel or copper saucepan, mix the wine vinegar with 4 tablespoons of cold water and the crushed peppercorns. Let it bubble to reduce by one-third, then leave to cool completely. Add the egg yolks to the cold reduction and mix with a whisk. Put the saucepan on a heat diffuser over a very low heat and continue whisking, making sure that the whisk comes into contact with the bottom of the pan. Gradually increase the heat so that the sauce emulsifies progressively, becoming very smooth and creamy after 8-10 minutes. Do not allow the temperature of the sauce to rise above 65°C. Off the heat and still whisking, pour in the tepid clarified butter in a steady stream. Season the sauce with salt. At the last moment, stir in the lemon juice. Pass the sauce through a muslin-lined chinoise to eliminate the crushed peppercorns if required, and then serve immediately.	In a thick bottomed non-stick pan put the two egg yolks and put the pan on the lowest possible heat your cooker can do. Whisking continually, add the butter, one cube at a time until you have a beautiful, glossy sauce. It may not require all the butter. Add the lemon juice to taste. If you find the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water to loosen it. If the sauce should curdle and split, put it in to a bowl, clean the pan, put back on the heat and add one yolk. Add the curdled mix, one teaspoon at a time, whisking all the time until it gets back to proper hollandaise sauce consistency, then continue adding the butter. Serve immediately.

Toast and butter your muffins, top with your favourite ham, add the eggs and spoon over liberal quantities of hollandaise. Like all the very best egg dishes, such as piperade, Benedict should be enjoyed on your knees in your most comfortable armchair!

Does it get any better?

Having given you the recipe for Hollandaise, I feel I should also give you some of the variations of it and their uses. You won't need to add much of the various flavourings.

Sauce	Add	Use with
Béarnaise	Tarragon	Steaks, grilled fish, chips
Choron	Puréed and sieved tomatoes	All fish, chicken and shellfish
Maltaise	Blood orange juice and zest	Fish or chicken
Paloise	Chopped mint	Lamb steaks and cutlets
Foyot	Reduced meat glaze	Steaks and lamb

I wish you all the very best of luck with both the eggs and the sauce. Let me know how you get on.

Have a great weekend.