Egg Poaching And Energy Versus Ease Of Use

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The last poacher I used was 120vac and it didn't take long before the eggs started sticking to the cups, even when heavily oiled.

I prefer electric because of 83F mornings. But the last poacher really draws down the AC ammeter. Borderline overload on the small inverter.

DC seems not to be an option

So that leaves stove top burner heating.

Being one foot is in the poorhouse and the other on a greased banana peel I sure could use some hints about getting a sensible egg poacher that avoids the almost immediate egg sticking problem.

Would appreciate hints

[MrWizard]

your right 'basted' not poached, i like using bacon grease
another scrambled 'data sector' in the ole 'organ memory module'

bpounds wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
i guess i do it wrong
when i want poached eggs, i use cooking oil in the fry, more oil than for frying
i spoon the oil over the top of the eggs, cook just long enough to make the egg white solid and not cook the yolk

I would call that basted. Usually with bacon grease, but oil works too. I don't think it would work well with water.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Yet they keep selling hideously expensive style over function cookware. The one that gets me is the one-cup cartridge coffee makers. Whopper expensive, crummy tasting charges and yotta see how much power these babies suck overnight just waiting for a fast preparation of a cup of coffee in the morning.

I purchased a pricey heavy-sukkah 10" fry pan with that speckled anti-stick coating I mentioned earlier. Tilt the cooked food and it damned near jumps out of the pan. The prizefighter griddle has humps and berms that make prying cooked food out of it a real test of patience. It did this right out of the box.

The Chinese are giggling
The Big Noses are content buying garbage.

A two quart empty pot weighs three pounds stainless steel. This is intelligent? Hate to tell you what the five quart pot weighs.

These things are the end product of a society that does not have a clue as to what they are doing (for a foreign market). They go home and cook rice and fish in a vessel that has never seen the light of day over here.

"Here ya go, honorable guests! Five Alarm chili and beans, mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy followed by pie a la mode!"

I'd MUCH rather see our kind of stuff built in Mexico than China. Fat chance of having it built inside our borders...Cheap At Any Price...rules.

[Almot]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

• Copper bottom plate for heat conduction
• Stainless pan with silicone handle
• Pyrex lid with silicone lift knob
• Heavy cups with integral lift tabs
• Heavy cup coating using coating like that speckled stuff on good fry pans
• Concentric rings on bottom of pan
• Center ring for one egg, next larger for 2, then a third and a fourth
• Water measurement
• Saves energy saves water

Somebody outside China has to make it first.
For the sake of argument, let' say he would. It will be expensive - by Walmart/Amazon standards, and few months later clones will flow in numbers, at 1/4 of the cost. Original guy will go out of business, cheered by m.oronic speeches on globalization, progress etc. But you will have clones. Bottom won't be real copper, handle will be vinyl, some other details might be correct as long as it doesn't cost more then 0.1 yuan per item, and net result will be what you see. What else is new...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Or less disastrous Kirkland Signature spray. The 70 dollar poacher maker seemingly uses the same coating as the George Foreman griddle -- near junk.

OK -- enough poacher preaching

[bpounds]

Pam.

or

Pamo.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Even the insane priced poachers have bitter comments about how eggs glue themselves to the cups. Phooey even they have beautiful heavy pans but no easy way to lift the cups out. Putting lifting pivot rings as a bail is beyond their mental capacity

Here Goes...

• Copper bottom plate for heat conduction
• Stainless pan with silicone handle
• Pyrex lid with silicone lift knob
• Heavy cups with integral lift tabs
• Heavy cup coating using coating like that speckled stuff on good fry pans
• Concentric rings on bottom of pan
• Center ring for one egg, next larger for 2, then a third and a fourth
• Water measurement
• Saves energy saves water

Good luck with intelligent design these days. Yes the pan would be pricey. No they do not exist at any price. The idiots insist on having egg cups that overflow with anything larger than a a small egg. Are extra large cups forbidden? Pretty stupid for a seventy dollar poacher

[bpounds]

MrWizard wrote:
i guess i do it wrong
when i want poached eggs, i use cooking oil in the fry, more oil than for frying
i spoon the oil over the top of the eggs, cook just long enough to make the egg white solid and not cook the yolk

I would call that basted. Usually with bacon grease, but oil works too. I don't think it would work well with water.

This isn't true poaching, but we use something like this. Goes in a pan with a little water, this thing sits in the water, and basically steams the eggs. We've got a few different ones. Works well for us.

https://www.amazon.com/HIC-Non-Stick-3-Egg-Poacher-Insert/dp/B001B18MJ8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1520531545&sr=8-3&keywords=egg+poacher+insert

To get eggs like McDonalds or Jack in the Box, we use rings like this. Also works well on a grill, or of course any pan. Would be easy to make your own, for the ultra budget minded.

https://www.amazon.com/Nonstick-Egg-Ring-Happy-Sales/dp/B0031VXS3Q/ref=sr_1_9?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1520531594&sr=1-9&keywords=egg+ring

[Naio]

$70 seems insane! No wonder you are looking for other options 😞

[MEXICOWANDERER]

allowing cold water tap water to run long enough to avoid scalding is the mark of living in the tropics.

I have a marker: If I leave an air conditioned room and the back of my head (hair) gets sopping wet in under 10-seconds then the weather can be deemed "uncomfortable" in my book.

Fans and kitchen stove cooktop flames hate each other. When a pot of water is allowed to boil and instant sweat stings the eyes then the kitchen environment is uncomfortable. I pressure cook because I can run like hell after turning the stove's knob.

I guess I spend the seventy dollars and get a stove top egg poacher.

[Almot]

Naio wrote:
Like, for instance, I wonder how hot water would get in a dark (e.g. anodized) saucepan with a glass lid, in the sun....

In summer, outside water tank gets hot enough to want to enclose it in plywood or cement blocks. I suspect that locals don't have time for showering in daytime, and do this after dark when their (mostly exposed) roof tanks cool down. Or they just take it in stride, que sera sera.

But not hot enough to simmer eggs.

Summer isn't 12 months a year, even in Mexico.

[Naio]

Hey Mex, what if you poach the eggs IN the salsa, in a saucepan? That way they won't stick, and you won't lose any of the whites.

You could possibly do this in the hollandaise, too, although you would have to heat it slowly in order not to burn it.

[ol__yeller]

I use the microwave every morning for poached eggs. 1/2 cup of water in a white coffee cup. (dark colored cups mess with cooking times) with a saucer on top. Cook for 1 minute, pour onto slotted spoon over the sink. Yum! Fast, easy and delicious.

[SaltiDawg]

Naio wrote:
I have always poached eggs in a pan of water, and did not know there was a thing called an egg poacher. It's true that you lose some of the white. In my experience, the freshness of the eggs is a major factor. If they are fresh the white is not as runny and you don't lose as much of it.

+1

[Naio]

I am a from scratch cook, too :).

Hmm.. it does sound like the poacher is the way to go. Do you need someone to read Amazon reviews and report back? I could probably do that in the morning if it would be helpful. Maybe there is a non-stick ceramic one.

Regarding sticking, can you put the egg cups in water, or fill them with water, right away after cooking?

Good night, sweet dreams to you.