Saturday, February 13, 2010

Guest Posts and Poach Pods

I'm guest posting today (Saturday) and Valentines' Day over at OuR KrAzy kItChEn . Please hop over and check it out. There's always something going in OuR KrAzy kItChEn.

Today's post over there is a Valentines' Day Brunch and I had to poach some eggs for Eggs Benedict. I took this opportunity to try out some of those silicon poach pods and compare them to normal poaching.

I poached two eggs the normal way - carefully sliding an egg into 200f water for about 8 minutes (for a firm yolk) and then fishing them out with a slotted spoon.

Then I poached two eggs using the poach pods - floating them in 200f water for 4-6 minutes.

Then I had to throw that batch out because I didn't read the part that the pot is supposed to be COVERED so I had a partially poached pair of eggs.

I did another two eggs, covered this time and I cooked them for 8 minutes since they didn't look quite set at 6 minutes.

Side by side comparison:


My overall impressions are:
  • The poach pods are more efficient in that you retain 100% of the egg while in free hand poaching, you loose some of the whites.
  • The poach pods were not any easier, in my opinion, than normal poaching. In fact it adds a few steps to the process (lubing the pods, having to work the cooked egg's edges off of the pod with a spoon, etc).
  • I preferred the normal poached eggs over the poach pod eggs in appearance and texture. The poach pod eggs looked too much like a McDonald's egg mcmuffin processed egg and the edges were a bit rubbery (overcooked) yet the center still wasn't firm as I wanted.
I know that some people have tried these and said that they really like them, but they just aren't for me. I'll stick with the normal way of poaching eggs.

Don't forget to see my guest post at Our Krazy Kitchen.

Standard review disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, I have no affiliation with and received no compensation from restaurants or product manufacturers reviewed and paid full retail price for the item reviewed.