Poached Egg Falling Apart? Here's How To Keep Yours Intact

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Poached eggs are one of those dishes — like carbonara or even a pot of white rice — that can be disproportionately difficult to cook despite their apparent simplicity. Unevenly cooked eggs, with rubbery whites and watery yolks, can ruin a brunch faster than discovering your bottomless mimosas actually do, in fact, have a bottom. If you, like so many others, struggle to poach eggs without them falling apart on you, don't worry — there's a simple fix.

To perfect your breakfast craft, you don't need fancy ingredients or equipment. All you need is a humble, deep-bottomed ladle. Coat the ladle with non-stick cooking spray and crack the egg into it. Then lower the ladle into the pot, allowing the simmering water to gently cascade over the egg. Don't dunk the ladle completely — the influx of water would be too aggressive and could ruin the texture. Letting the water get too hot is another mistake everyone makes with poached eggs, so make sure to keep it at a gentle simmer rather than a rolling boil.

This trick lets you denature the proteins in the egg whites — that is, break them down so they begin to solidify — without having to add vinegar. In the traditional poaching process, the addition of vinegar increases the acidity of the water, which speeds up the rate of denaturing, allowing the egg to poach faster while maintaining its structural integrity.

If the ladle method doesn't work for you, don't despair. There are still plenty of ways to keep your poached eggs intact. The easiest involves buying an egg poacher, like the Avacraft model. These devices allow you to crack your eggs into non-stick cups and let the boiling water below steam them to perfection, without any of the extra hassle.

For those who prefer the classic water-poaching technique, consider Julia Child's shell trick for picture perfect eggs. Pierce the larger end of the egg with a pin, then boil it for eight to 10 seconds. This quick step helps the egg maintain its shape once it hits the simmering water.

Another simple tool that can yield rich, well-formed poached eggs is a mesh strainer. Straining the eggs first gets rid of the natural water in the egg whites. From there, you can lower the strainer into the water, thereby ensuring an easy removal — but that's not your only option. Gently slide the egg out of the strainer into the water, where it should form a perfect orb of white. If you're cooking two eggs at once, you can even take two mesh strainers, lay them across the top of the pan so they rest above the water, then crack the eggs in and cover with a lid. The steam should cook them similar to how an egg poacher does.