# Poaching Eggs Before Service



## linecook854 (Feb 13, 2013)

Going to do a salad with a poached egg on it. Poaching to order is not possible in our situation, simply reheating them in simmering water is all we can do. *How do you guys go about this?*

I've only done it once but I salted/vinegared some simmering water, cracked a few eggs into the water at at time, pulled out with a slotted spoon, shocked, drained and trimmed the ragged albumen. Put into individual pint containers with some oil. It did work but it didn't seem to be the most efficient in terms of time (only a few eggs at a whack) plus I had to deal with a couple broken yolks. Anyone else know a better way?


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## archbow (Jul 15, 2013)

Why not just poach them before service, then keep them in a third pan with some ice water in the fridge? They should be able to hold up enough, and just reheat them to order.


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## linecook854 (Feb 13, 2013)

Archbow said:


> Why not just poach them before service, then keep them in a third pan with some ice water in the fridge? They should be able to hold up enough, and just reheat them to order.


Archbow,
Thanks for the input. Just curious, what is the advantage to holding them in ice water as opposed to in oiled pint containers? Are they more firm and less susceptible to breaking? Thanks.


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

I'm curious...if you can re-heat them to order in simmering water, why can't you just poach them to order? I understand not poaching to order maybe if you are cranking out hundreds of brunches or something, but if it is for one dish on a standard service surely you could poach to order?

I've seen it done with very large rondeaus and a couple dozen or so eggs at a time. You just have to crack in order and time it right to drop, poach, and pull/shock in the order in which you dropped them.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

There is archive forums posts on this topic.

I myself have contributed to this topic.

Doing Eggs Benedict for Mother's Day brunch and having to pre-poach 500 eggs on Saturday afternoon gives me the proper perspective. Linecook854 You can poach the eggs, and have a pan of ice water nearby.

After poaching, shock them and keep them in this water/ice in the cooler until you need them.

The less you handle the eggs the less likely they are to break on you.


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## chef-josh (Oct 28, 2012)

What about using an imersion circulator to prep your eggs, if you have access to one? Cook them to around 58*c and chill, then reheat under service? I've never used one myself but they used one in the other kitchen at work for there eggs benedict, about 200 each day.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

To do to order or before, all depends on the volume you are doing. If you are lets say doing a brunch for 2 or 3 hundred, do ahead of time. For a la carte 1 o 2 guest do a la minute.


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

Poach and hold in ice water as Chefross said.
Have done 1000's like this.


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## ljokjel (Jul 1, 2009)

Tried "poaching" using plastic film?

Over to something completely different: 

Do anyone else put them in vinegar before paoching? Always do so when poaching quail eggs. 

Prepare a bowl containing vinegar, then crack the quaileggs and leave them in the vinegar for a couple of minutes.

Prepare poaching water, make it cirulate like normally, and "pour" the eggs and vinegar into the warm water carefully. 

Dont know why, but the vinegar give them a better result. Most of the difference is seen in the egg whites.

Guess its about the acid...

Anyone who could explain this to me?


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## linecook854 (Feb 13, 2013)

Thanks for the help everyone, I was not aware that there was an archive post on this subject I will take a look.

No, we are not doing a brunch for hundreds but doing them to order will be tough as we have a two man team between saute/grill and only 8 burners on the range. Can't take up another burner during service as it is desperately needed. We can however drop a pre-cooked egg in one of the pasta pot baskets so that was my thinking. We are a small place with little room behind the line and our saute guy is doing too much to not get pissed off with something delicate like a poached egg. I hate to admit it but it's the truth.


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## soesje (Dec 6, 2012)

yes we do this at our restaurant,  put them in a little cup which holds about a tablespoon of vinegar.

I agree on the eggwhites, seems when you just poach them this way, the looks are nicer somehow.

where is harold mcgee when you need him....


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## borkbork (Dec 19, 2012)

Acids firm proteins. Just like lime juice on raw shrimp for ceviche. Acidulating poaching water firms albumen. This also works for hard boiled as vinegar will permeate the shell firming the white and making the finished egg easier to peel. We use a $30 electric burner for ala minute poaching to keep from taking a burner. Also you have more control at low temp. When we are busy we have put it on the expo station and ill drop eggs as I call tickets and wipe rims


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Most everyone  uses vinegar , it changes the PH factor of the water.And helps the albumin in the egg to congeal.


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## just jim (Oct 18, 2007)

Used to toss a couple of dill pickle slices in the water.

Works the same.


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## pirate-chef (Jan 25, 2012)

I have done the same poach cool and use for service. crack the eggs in a bowl with vinegar for about 5-10 min until you can see the whites setting ( use the vinegar here and not in the water as it will give  a much better shape and effect) after soaking drain the vinegar, stir the simmering water to help keep them off of the bottom and blanch in ice water at the end like green vedge. hold on a tray with paper towels and drop in the warm water ( or covered in plastic in a steam oven) to reheat. there are two other options. sous vide or circulator which i prefer 61 celsius or 61 and a half one hour fifteen min. cool in ice water store in the shell in the fridge, reheat to order. these store great and just crack on a slotted spoon to clear off some of the membrane that doesnt split then onto the plate. we use to cater an egg dish with around 100 poached eggs in this way. also if you have a steam oven you can do the same , you will have to try it on your oven but should be full steam in a waterbath for the same time and temp. hope this helps.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

GI pan with ice water works for shocking the eggs.  This is pretty much the standard way.  I just want to warn you not to try anything new for service.

If you're doing a salad your other choice is to medium boil the egg, shock, peel, and slice in half at service time.  It's quite a nice presentation, but you would have to measure the exact time it requires for the eggs and consider the temperature of the eggs when they go in the hot water.

I guess you might have other choices too, but the medium boil works quite well.


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## linecook854 (Feb 13, 2013)

Thanks everyone. I ended up doing them a la minute, it was easy because weren't busy. Had it been a Friday or Saturday night I don't think a la minute would have been possible in our setup.

As for the medium boil eggs, yes I have done this and I do like it quite a bit. It's very easy to prep and garde manger can execute the dish start to finish on their own. 6 minute eggs is what we called them as they were steamed or boiled for 6 minutes before being shocked.


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