Paul Foster, the owner of Michelin-starred restaurant Salt, has shared his top tips for cooking the perfect poached egg – and it turns out you’ve been doing it wrong
A culinary maestro has let slip his secret to the perfect poached egg – and it’s a vinegar-free zone.
Paul Foster, the brains behind Salt, Stratford-upon-Avon’s first Michelin-starred restaurant and proud holder of 3 AA rosettes since its 2017 debut, is now dishing out his kitchen wisdom.
In a TikTok reveal, Paul spills the beans on his top technique for egg-poaching perfection. He confesses: “I was shown, when I was a young chef, to use vinegar but I’ve learned a better way. This is the better way.”
READ MORE: Shoppers heap praise on £20 gum serum that ‘works wonders’ and helps ‘reduce inflammation’
It’s all about simplicity – “You just need a pan with some water, with no vinegar in it. Just a little bit of salt.”
The trick begins with straining the egg to ditch any runny whites. Then, heat a pan of water to boiling, dial it down a notch, and give it a gentle stir – “You don’t need to whisk it and create a vortex. The stir just helps it to move so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan,” Paul advises.
Gently easing the egg into the hot water, he sets a timer for two minutes. While it won’t be fully cooked yet, Paul prefers an early check-in.
“See how the water is not boiling. There’s no vinegar in there, it’s not gone all scummy and it won’t taste like c**p.”
TV chef Paul Hollywood shared his top tip for preparing the ideal soft-boiled egg, without any fear of waterlogged toast. His technique?
After dunking his egg in boiling water, two minutes in, he checks and declares it needs a mere 30 more seconds insisting, “Don’t be tempted to turn it up and start boiling it.”
Once finished, Paul shakes off extra drops on kitchen towel, to avoid soggy toast.
Satisfied with his culinary outcome, he asserts, “That is a perfectly cooked runny yolk, and a nice soft white,” touting it as unbeatable.
In an eyebrow-raising twist, food enthusiasts were recently informed by experts that eggs can endure the chill of a freezer. As per the guidance on Egg Info’s website, eggs can stay frozen up to a year, but they advocate using within four months to maintain freshness.
There are a few key rules to adhere to if you’re planning to freeze your eggs; make sure they are fresh and used before the sell-by date. Every British Lion Egg comes with a best-before imprint right on the shell.