So I'm tackling a few things that I've never done before tomorrow for brunch for my Mother-in-Law. Eggs Benedict and roasted breakfast potatoes
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I was just reading about poached eggs yesterday in a book by Elizabeth David. She suggests putting the uncooked egg in a small cup and then pour the egg into the water. I suppose it is a way to keep it all together until just before you put it in the pot. She says to ease the egg into water, count to thirty, turn off the heat and roll the egg twice before removing it and then dropping it into cold water to "arrest heating" and then you can reheat later while still keeping the yolk runny.
One tip I learned from Gary Rhodes that's served me well is to cook the eggs in a deep pan. You put plenty of water in the pan, but leave a reasonable amount of space at the top because once the water's ready, you whisk the water fast in a circle (as opposed to across, the way a lot of people normally use a whisk) so that when you take the whisk out of the pan, you have a sort of whirlpool in the centre. Put the egg into a small bowl beforehand and have it ready when you take the whisk out. Moving quickly, drop the egg gently into the whirlpool before it's had time to stop twirling. This wraps the egg white around the yolk nice and tightly so that it looks especially nice and you don't have a lot of floaty white bits. It takes a few tries to get the hang of it properly, but it definitely works :)
Generally my rule is that the eggs are ready when the white 'looks right' (opaque and a nice set colour) and when it's fairly firm but still has some give to it, rather like fairly firm jello or softish mozzarella.
Yes, you can put lemon zest in hollandaise. And if you're making the hollandaise with clarified butter (which I recommend), you can add the zest to the butter while it melts. Then the lemon flavor will come out beautifully.
I second the parboiling, although I'd parboil them longer cause I reallllllly hate when my potatoes aren't perfectly soft in the middle. I also usually grind some rosemary and add that and garlic cloves, but you have to make sure that the person's a real garlic lover. If you want to be snazzy, do some roasted garlic separately and offer it on the side, either to add to the potatoes or to spread on bread.
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She says to ease the egg into water, count to thirty, turn off the heat and roll the egg twice before removing it and then dropping it into cold water to "arrest heating" and then you can reheat later while still keeping the yolk runny.
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Generally my rule is that the eggs are ready when the white 'looks right' (opaque and a nice set colour) and when it's fairly firm but still has some give to it, rather like fairly firm jello or softish mozzarella.
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