Poached egg

I've been attempting this off and on for a while now. It has never worked. I read somewhere that you're supposed to add a bit of vinegar in the water to help it "set". I've tried playing with the temperature settings ... egg always manages to separate and gets turned the water into egg drop soup-looking thing.

Watched Julie and Julia recently and started reading her blog. She tried poaching eggs too! Looks like it took her a few tries to get it just right. So ... I tried again last night. It was a last minute inspiration too. I got home really late and wanted a little something to eat without a big production. I actually thought about just going out to eat, but since my wallet wasn't particularly fat, I decided to stay home and heat up some "stuff".

In went a can of Campbell's vegetable and barley soup. Not exactly gourmet, but it's quick and easy. The can of soup's content looks so sad in the pot that I decided to add an egg ... and since an egg, why not just poach it in the liquid? Worst thing that'll happen is that I turn the soup into an egg drop veggie soup. No big deal. I turned the heat to low and very carefully slipped the egg's content into it. No simmer, no bubbles ... just let the gradual heat of the soup congeal and cook the thing.

I remember Julie talking about "gently coaxing" the egg white together to form a perfect soft egg pillow ... or something like that. I tried coaxing ... I guess I'm not exactly the coaxing type. I decided to just leave it alone.

It took longer than I would have liked. Neither Julie nor Julia said anything about needing patience ... I should have known!

Oh, anyways, the egg turned out very nicely. But unlike a traditional poached egg, it has bits and chunks of vegetables from the soup stuck to it. Too bad the phone rang just after I scooped the thing with some soup into a bowl. By the time I was able to get to it, the whole thing had cooled to room temperature. Egg's a bit over cooked, but I think it COULD have been just perfect had I devoured it when I scooped it out of the soup.

I'll have to try it again some other time. This poaching egg thing in soup's a keeper!