Heston Blumenthal has brought his unique scientific approach to bear on this recently.
The main pointers for a perfect poached egg are as follows: The egg must be fresh .
A fresh egg has a thicker, more gel-like albumen.
As it gets older, this becomes watery, and so just disperses throughout the water when you add it.
To test if your egg is fresh, place it in a jug of cold water.
If it floats, it's not fresh - the egg has had time to absorb air through its shell.
A fresh egg sinks and stays sunk.
The water temperature should be 80ºC/176ºF exactly .
You can measure this with a sugar or probe thermometer.
The egg should be at room temperature.
The egg should not come into contact with direct heat, so put a plate or small bowl on the bottom of the pan, bottom up.
Once the water (in a medium to large saucepan) is up to temperature, carefully add the fresh egg and cook for 4 minutes exactly (for a large egg of the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus ).
Drain and serve - the white should be set but not rubbery (a drawback of using vinegar) and the yolk should be creamy and rich.
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/4194/ElendilTheTall
Just simmer water, and poach the egg.
The vinegar is simply there to help coagulate the white.
I never use vinegar for poaching eggs.
You just have to try to be as careful as possible when setting the egg into the water.
have the water at a bare simmer, not a rolling boil.
These things will help to keep the white intact.
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/3630/mrwienerdog
This method may not be practical if you want a lot of poached eggs
but this is what I do.
wait for the water to come to the boil
turn down heat
somewhat use a spoon to stir the water until a visible vortex forms in the middle of the pot gently pour in the egg in the vortex wait until done
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/200/Nifle
What I generally do is use a slotted spoon to drain the runny parts of the white of, before putting it into the water.
This goes well with the aforementioned method from Heston Blumenthal.
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/25926/Mercur1c
In addition to simmering water, fresh eggs, salt and vinegar, and getting rid of the outer egg white with a slotted spoon or mash, there is a way to use older eggs.
You first boil them for 90 sec in their shell, and afterwards break them in the liquid for poaching.
This sets the outer eggwhite somewhat, and keeps it together.
I have had mixed results with this, but give it a try if you have older eggs
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/42169/Marc Luxen
personally I use lemon, it helps to acidate the water and adds a unexpected flavour to the poached eggs, its wonderful when making eggs benedict.
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/72685/Stephen Lowndes
What is the best way to poach an egg without vinegar? Is there a quick and easy alternative?
How to poach an egg without vinegar?
cooking.stackexchange.com
<eggs><poaching>
cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/21650
cooking.stackexchange.com/users/9254/Jeb
The vinegar is there to help coagulate the white, so you can add lemon juice or leave it out. To poach an egg, carefully add it to a medium or large saucepan of simmering water and cook for 4 minutes exactly. Alternatively, you can first boil them in their shell for 90 seconds before breaking them into the liquid for poaching. Vinegar helps to coagulate the water but it is not necessary for poaching. You can just poach the egg in simmering water. Boiling the egg for 90 seconds in the shell helps to stabilize the white when poaching.
Simmer the water and poach the egg. Boil the egg in the shell for 90 seconds and then crack the egg in the poaching water. Using lemon in the water gives it a nice flavour and adds acid to the water. The vinegar helps to coagulate the water but this is not necessary.