Poached Egg

There's something indefinable about a poached egg - neither fried nor boiled, and certainly not scrambled. It requires a bit of skill to poach an egg properly, but this is how I do it.

The egg should be as fresh as possible, and at room temperature. Add the vinegar to a pan of water and heat to a very gentle simmer. It's critically important that there is not too much turbulence in the pan - this will disperse the egg white and make it difficult to pull together. Crack your egg into a shallow bowl, and slip it into the pan.

Use a spoon to gently tease any floating strands of egg white back towards the egg. After a couple of minutes, the egg white will have set, while the yolk within is still golden and runny.

Serve on a slice of toast or a lightly toasted English muffin. There should be lots of butter involved. Season with salt and pepper.