Home > Blogs > Norfolk Single Dad > Permalink

Poached Eggs IV - Ainsley Harriott - The Other Whirlpool

Blog: Norfolk Single Dad
Posted by: Eddie2sox Monday 17th December 2007, 3:55pm
Last edited 17/12/2007 3:55pm by Eddie2sox

Will we see heavy use of Susie Salt and Percy Pepper? Read on to find out how Ainsley does itÂ…..

To continue the Alan Hansen comments from the previous blog……this was also “shocking“. A massively disappointing effort from the lovely Ainsley, and it actually made me wonder if he had tried this recipe for himself before publishing it on the Interweb. I very much doubt it.

The recipe was very concise, and that was one of the contributing factors to this debacle. You have to have 400ml of boiling water - this is put into a saucepan. But there’s no mention of whether the saucepan should be pre-heated, cold, nothing at all. I guessed at pre-heated, as later in the recipe you “turn down the heat”, but putting the boiling water into an almost cold pan cooled it down dramatically. Into the 400ml of water you must add THREE tablespoons of vinegar….meaning that the vinegar makes up 10% of the volume of the liquid.

And turning down the heat and poaching for 2 minutes? Way too short. Altogether the worst entry so far, could do much better.

You can find this recipe here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/cheeseontoastwithpoa_79135.shtml

Ease & Effort:

3 - A short and easy recipe to follow, which was NOT a plus point. Some extra information here and there would have been most useful. I don’t usually praise long-winded recipes, but this one definitely needs some padding out. This is a variation of the swirly whirlpool method, but didn’t work out particularly impressively.

Presentation:

2 - As you can see, the yolk spread all over the toast immediately. It didn’t look Unappetising, but it did look the least appetising of the four recipes so far.

Yolk:

1 - Not a complete disaster, but not a triumph. Too runny for my liking, and when I cut into the egg the yolk very quickly overflowed the toast. Tasted “fairly” nice.

White:

0.5 - Oh dear. A 2 minute cooking time was WAY too short, and adding such a lot of vinegar meant that the white tasted purely of….vinegar. The white was barely cooked in places, almost looked raw, and that cannot be a good thing with eggs!

Scores On The Doors

Old Bob - 11.5

Rick Stein - 10.5

Mrs Beeton - 9

Ainsley Harriott - 6.5

Running Order:

5 - James Martin

6 - Vash The Stampede

7 - Mahalo

8 - Poached Egg Machine

9 - Delia Smith

10 - Mr Breakfast

11 - Wally Webb

12 - Australian Egg Board

13 - Woolpack Wally

Send Me Your Comments!

New this time - YOUR chance to participate in the world’s best blog-based cooking/tasting eggy competition. The Welsh Rarebit thread prompted loads of comments and emails, and I wish I’d shared some of them with you. So. Email me at trix68@hotmail.co.uk or leave a comment on the blog.

Spread the Word

Flag as inappropriate
If you believe the content of this blog post is inappropriate and should be reviewed.

More posts from this blog...