I made sous
vide-style “poached eggs” for the third or fourth time over the weekend
and have had a revelation: eggs this way (which are actually very
softly soft boiled) are sort of gross, and definitely not worth the time.
While I'm not a Creationist, eggs seem
almost tailor-made by some higher power to be ideal for poaching. The
proteins in the white require a higher temperature to set than the
proteins in the yolk, so cooking at a high heat from outside to inside
works really well--pay attention to timing, and the egg takes care of
itself.
But sous vide-ing them messes with this
miracle of food. Cooking at all one temperature--the right temperature
to make a great yolk--ensures that the whites stay liquid and, by my
standards, kind of nasty.
I have a buddy who says I'm wrong, that using ChefSteps's exhaustively researched egg calculator will yield the poached perfection I'm missing today. But look at SeriousEats, which I highly respect, but which says the best way to get a sous vide poached egg is to sous vide it, and then poach it.
Contrast that with Alton Brown’s recipe for
perfect poached eggs, which highlights and celebrates the miracle: foolproof,
five minutes, and the eggs are truly perfect (by my definition of perfection), with firm whites and soft
gooshy golden yolks.
I guess if
I had to make a bunch of poached-style eggs for a recipe, maybe
whipping out the immersion circulator would be justified. But, lesson
learned, I’m going to stick to the old-fashioned way if I’m poaching
some eggs for a weekend benedict for one.
