I’ve had a bunch of comments and inquiries about my egg poaching technique, so I asked Mike to shoot a video clip of me poaching eggs. Our first attempt was a hilarious mess, but our second effort produced good results, and I post it here for you, dear readers, in all its amateurish glory. (Please be kind.)
(Mike pointed out that at one point in the video I misspoke, saying “yolk” when I meant to say “white.” Just fyi.)
As for what went under the egg, it was a quick sort of “hash,” made with shallots, potatoes, shredded duck leg confit, smoked paprika and thyme - nothing fancy, just an easy mix of things we had on hand.
I spooned the hash over a bed of greens and topped it with the egg, finishing it with black pepper and some snipped chives - a simple and tasty meal.
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dietsch 03.12.08 at 11:10 am
Man, those damned compact fluorescent bulbs make our kitchen look yellow. At the new place, we’ll need to find a “green” bulb that doesn’t throw off the colors in the kitchen.
Merry 03.12.08 at 11:10 am
It’s really great to hear your voice again.
PS the hash looks sooooooooooooo good.
anita 03.12.08 at 11:48 am
yum
and love the ladle trick — I’ll have to pass that on to my in-house egg maven
angela 03.12.08 at 1:14 pm
Fabulous! Now that I’ve seen *both* of your videos, I’m not so scared to attempt poached eggs. Now if I can get over my fear of hollandaise, I can have an awesome Sunday breakfast every week.
Terry B 03.12.08 at 1:33 pm
Excellent! Kudos to both you and your cameraman [aka Mike]. I’ve got to tell you, Jennifer, you are one of the few people I know who would count duck leg confit as as one of those “things we had on hand.” And from the top photo, I see we have the same silicone spoon rest.
Jennifer Hess 03.12.08 at 1:42 pm
dietsch - Yeah, honey, I hope we have better lighting in our new kitchen.
Merry - Thanks, hon!
anita - that ladle trick has made all the difference, I’m telling you.
angela - Don’t be afraid! And trust me, it only gets easier the more often you do it.
Terry B - Ha! You should have seen our fridge a couple of months ago, we had three tubs of confit! And I’m going to assume your spoon rest is blue?
Danielle 03.12.08 at 2:06 pm
I love it! More video!
Jessamyn 03.12.08 at 3:19 pm
I appreciate you doing this - I’ve poached eggs a few times but always with the feeling that I was doing it all horribly wrong, but I guess not! I love fried eggs on top of greens or hash, but I might feel less guilty if I poached them
And I, also, am staggered that you just happen to have duck confit on hand. Can I come over and raid your fridge?
Joshua 03.12.08 at 5:41 pm
Hey Jen
Thanks, I thought all my pleading had fallen on deaf ears. That was superb exactly what i needed to see, I think we also have the same pan/pot, its a good one.
Agree about the lighting, doesn’t usually seem to spoil your lovely photos though.
Thanks again
Traci @ Soup of The Day 03.12.08 at 8:20 pm
I use vinegar too. I think it keeps the eggs together better?
So, I like your method of doing one egg at a time, and swirling it around. It comes out looking very nice! I’m always rushing things and put 2-3 eggs in the pan at once. Yours look much better than mine. I learned something today, thanks!
LyB 03.12.08 at 8:36 pm
I’ve only made poached eggs once and they were really good, I have no idea why I’ve never made them again. Your photos are making me want to make poached eggs, and hash, man that looks good!
Laura Grace 03.12.08 at 9:06 pm
Thanks, Jen!! That’s… pretty much exactly how I poach mine, except I don’t move them around. Love it!
michelle @ TNS 03.13.08 at 10:05 am
that made me laugh: “nothing fancy, just some duck leg confit.” truly, the perspective of the committed foodblogger is somewhat warped.
good looking eggs! i do the vinegar thing, too.
Jennifer Hess 03.13.08 at 10:27 am
Danielle - I can’t wait to have you and Seth over for dinner at our new place! Eee!
Jessamyn - Duck confit is a cold weather staple for us.
Joshua - Thanks for inspiring me to do it!
Traci - I’ll be honest, I do generally do two eggs at a time, but this time I really wanted to be sure it would work so I did them one at a time.
LyB - Poached eggs are kind of my current obsession
Laura Grace - Thank you!
michelle - I’m telling you, even though Mike is the confit-maker in our household, it’s an easy process. It takes a bit of time but it’s easy, and it’s a great thing to make in quantity. It keeps really well and is wonderful to pull out for quick suppers.
Shannon 03.13.08 at 2:03 pm
Hi Jennifer,
My name is Shannon and I’m the editorial assistant at Foodbuzz.com. Following up on a recent email invitation to be a part of our newly launched Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I just want to reiterate that I am very impressed with the quality of your posts. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at Shannon@foodbuzz.com.
Looks so good!
Cheers!
Shannon Eliot
Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
shannon@foodbuzz.com
Hillary 03.14.08 at 2:22 pm
Ooooh thanks for the video! You should have put yourself in it! Informative and helpful and much appreciated though!
Jennifer Hess 03.14.08 at 4:46 pm
Shannon - Thank you!
Hillary - Thanks! I don’t know that I’m ready to be in front of a camera.
Maya 03.19.08 at 9:48 am
Thanks for the video—your blog and eggs are totally inspiring and I made them for t he first time last night over hash and salad (sound familiar) and it was a great dinner that will soon become a household staple. Thank you!
Jennifer Hess 03.19.08 at 12:33 pm
Thanks, Maya - I’m glad it worked out well for you!
melissa 03.20.08 at 10:17 pm
I was thinking what michelle was thinking. “nothing fancy, just what we had around.” pfffft.
thank you for the video. it makes me feel like I could actually poach eggs.
Cheryl 03.22.08 at 5:10 am
I would love to see you do more video demonstrations. It really helped me to watch how you physically handle the food (even something as simple as poaching an egg), rather than trying to imagine it from your words (not that those do not give me a tremendous amount of guidance). I realise it is not something you could do all the time, but maybe on some weekends (after the move, of course)?
Jennifer Hess 03.24.08 at 10:19 am
melissa - really, once you’ve done it a few times you won’t think a think of it!
Cheryl - Our new kitchen will definitely be a better setup for future dorky video clips.
If you guys have any suggestions I’m happy to compile a list!