Blowing The Lid Off Egg Poachers (Literally...)

When I was a lad we had a metal egg poacher that came out of the cupboard every six months. As I recall (this was the 1980s so forgive my hazzy description) it was made up of 4 metal 'cups' with little wire handles that sat in a disc on top of your saucepan. Although it looked wondrous, me and 'r' kid always preferred boiled eggs - because you got toasty soldiers and could use the top of the egg to create a little crash helmet for your finished shell (and then destroy it!). 

It would seem it has become a tradition for people to buy me novelty kitchenware for Christmas and this year I was given a microwavable egg poacher. Surely this can't be right I hear you say, you use boiling water don't you? What act of Satan is this?! Well I intended to find out so gave it a go...

Today I will be comparing two egg poachers, the Poach Perfect Silicone Egg Poachers and the Joie Microwave Egg Poacher.  The reason I'm doing this is because I've had the silicone ones for over a year now and in my opinion they work great, so we'll see how the micro-witch poacher compares (no bias creeping in I promise!):

Poach Perfect Silicone Egg Poachers

 Joie Microwave Egg Poacher

Using the Joie Microwave Egg Poacher:

Bang and the egg is gone!

First off I tried the 'Joie' and was immediately instructed to crack the egg in to the orange base and pierce the yoke. Reflecting, this seemed a funny act (piercing the yoke), given that this is what you normally do with your toast soldiers once you've cooked it. Anyway, I presumed this was to stop your egg exploding in the microwave and continued. The rather fetching chicken themed cover was then added and the poacher placed in the microwave for two minutes on a medium heat. After about one and a half minutes this happened (see picture right). No toasty soldiers for me!

I hoped this was a one off and that perhaps I hadn't pierced the egg yoke enough, so tried again...

...and made a bigger mess! 

At this point the wife was enrolled to clean the microwave while I resulted to plan B; boiling water...

Using the Poach Perfect Silicone Egg Poacher:

Egg-straordinary!

Sometimes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So (rather hungry at this point), I reverted back to the tried and tested. The lovely thing about silicone egg poachers is, they're easy to use and even easier to clean. They also work wonderfully. You simply line the inside of the poacher with a little olive oil (you only need a drop), crack your egg into it, season and pop in a pan of boiling water.  You then cover the pan with a lid and wait four minutes to cook. The best thing about silicone of course is that it is pliable so you can remove the egg easily. And voilà! A tasty and healthy snack (without an explosion!)

Rik x

If you're interested, the Poach Perfect Silicone Egg Poachers retail at around £3, a bargain!

Design of the Week (No.9)

Stir-ring my imagination this week is:

(No.9) Creature Cups

It's been more than several weeks since my last 'Design of the Week'. For this I apologise. I went on holiday in October, got food poisoning, had a nasty incident with lawyers and turned 30, so I hid myself in a cupboard for 3 months. 

But I'm back! (hooray!...) and here's my favourite design this week; the Creature Cups (click to enlarge).

These little critters are great fun! I'd love to try them out on my gran: 

Me - "Here you go love, a lovely steaming hot brew. I've put two sugars in it just like you like it. I love you Nan..."

Nan - "Oh you are a dear, you've always been my favourite..."

"You do know I'm diabetic?..."

(Sip, Sip, Sip)

"Arrrgggghhhh! What the what?!!" (Nan collapses) 

Only joking! But it would be ace to prank people. My favourite has to be the Octopus - please feel free to buy it for me (they retail at around £10). Sadly the cups don't come with a saucer (not very British) but this can be forgiven as the designers, known as 'Yumi-Yumi', are based in Brooklyn!

So, kudos to you 'Yumi-Yumi', I love 'em!