Woman shares perfect poached egg method – and it takes just three minutes

Mastering the poached egg can be a culinary challenge, but following straightforward steps might just save you from a disaster.

Achieving the perfect consistency for a poached egg, avoiding the extremes of too runny or overly firm, is an art that often takes years to perfect. However, one influencer insists her 'fool-proof' technique will elevate your full English breakfast in just minutes.

A food blogger known as 'Sarah' shared her trick on TikTok, revealing she uses a stainless steel ladle typically used for serving soups, sauces, or stews to poach eggs. Surprisingly, she suggests there's a scientific reason this method could outdo the common microwave approach.

"Here's how to perfectly poach an egg in a stainless steel ladle and the science behind it," Sarah said on her @halfbatchbaking account. She continued: "The unique properties that make stainless steel corrosion-resistant also make it a poor conductor of heat."

She explained this can cause uneven heating, potentially creating hot spots that make the egg stick to the ladle. Despite its smooth appearance, stainless steel has microscopic imperfections where food can adhere.

Sarah then detailed the correct way to use a metal ladle for poaching eggs. She advises pre-warming the ladle by hovering it over boiling water on the stove for a few minutes before adding a bit of oil to it.

While she doesn't specify the type of oil, another blogger, Cookist, suggested that olive oil can significantly enhance the flavour. Sarah further explained: "Hot oil is less viscous than cold and it will flow better, getting in those grooves."

Next, she cracks an egg over a sieve, allowing the raw whites to drain through the gaps into the ladle, before adding the yolk. This is then plunged into a pot of boiling water for cooking.

"The hot oil will start to denature (breakdown) the proteins in egg whites," she added. "As the proteins breakdown they bond to each other going from a liquid to a solid. The hot oil prevents the proteins from bonding to the atoms in the metal, which is what causes the egg to stick to the ladle."

According to Sarah, the egg should be submerged in the ladle for approximately five or six seconds, or until it appears visibly set. Then, the ladle needs to be gently tilted to release the egg into the hot water.

Typically, eggs take up to three minutes to cook, but Sarah suggests two-and-a-half for a perfectly runny yolk. She concluded: "It should easily slip out and you'll be left with a perfectly poached egg."

Sarah's innovative poaching technique has gone viral on TikTok, sparking a flood of comments from users eager to test the trick. Excited by the prospect of finally mastering the art of poaching eggs, one user exclaimed: "I think this video will finally allow me to poach an egg.

Another impressed commenter contributed: "It's one of the most rounded poached eggs I've ever seen."