Coaxing an egg out of its shell
BY CHRIS FORTUNE
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Life is not like a box of chocolates, it's like a carton of eggs.
Open up a carton of eggs, any carton from any store, any brand, any size there are a dozen eggs of varying size, colour and taste.
Take a community, any community, from any town, any size population, of different economic and social status. Then take another look it is a community of people of different sizes, shapes, colours, political and social values and views; a community of people who have to share the same town with all of the other people.
Not all eggs are the same.
We tend to think they are, but chickens lay large eggs, oblong eggs, speckled eggs, round and mottled eggs.
However, we are not always aware of this as we don't have many choices to make about what sort of eggs we buy.
Some eggs hatch to grow and become the future egg layers of the world, some eggs are destined to be part of the 11 other eggs in the carton. Some eggs will grow to be future leaders of the chicken coop and others will be happy to follow. Some will just pass the time being chickens.
If you pick up an egg and it feels hollow or smells funny, just throw it in the rubbish as it is probably rotten.
Don't put it into the compost, as it will make it smell and attract feral animals. If you don't throw the rotten egg out it will make other eggs go bad.
How to poach an egg using a Wodge, by Delia Smith (the Queen of eggs)
This method is not at all frightening or hazardous, but bear in mind that for successful poaching the eggs have to be really fresh less than four days old. The key to a well-poached egg is to keep the water at a bare simmer throughout cooking.
Place a suitably sized frying pan over a gentle heat and add enough boiling water from the kettle to fill it to 2.5 centimetres. Keep the heat gentle, and very quickly you will see the merest trace of tiny bubbles beginning to form over the base of the pan. Now carefully break the eggs, one at a time, into the water and let them barely simmer, without covering, for just one minute. A timer is useful here.
After that, remove the pan from the heat and let the eggs sit calmly and happily in the hot water, this time setting the timer for 10 minutes.
This timing will give perfect results for a beautifully translucent, perfectly set white and a soft, creamy yolk.
Now remove each egg by lifting it out of the water with a draining spoon and letting the spoon rest for a few seconds on a wodge of kitchen paper, which will absorb the excess water.
Serve them straight away with hot buttered toast.
- The Marlborough Express
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