ref=”https://thinktasty1.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/poacher.jpg”>With a flock of fourteen chickens, rarely do we lack eggs at our house.  Gathering about nine eggs a day on average, there are plenty to be used for cooking, baking, and as breakfast dishes.  While I prefer egg white wraps and an occasional scrambled egg or omelet, the guys in our house are fond of eggs with runny yolks.  Though they can fry their eggs over easy, both my older son and husband prefer them poached.

For a period of a few months, we experimented with ways of poaching the eggs.  Our first attempt was cracking eggs into boiling water.  This produced a mediocre poached egg, though a decent amount of egg white was lost as strands, even with vinegar added to the water.  Our next attempt was using a single egg poacher.  While almost no egg white was lost, it was quite messy, not very user friendly, and (obviously) only cooked one egg at a time.  Leaving one egg on a plate while cooking a second isn’t ideal.  Our third attempt was our winner.  We purchased a Calphalon Unison Slide Nonstick 10″ Fry Pan with Poacher Insert.

This pan delivered a lot of features that we were seeking, though there was a learning curve to using it.  The first benefit to this pan is that up to six eggs can be poached at one time; no more waiting!  The second benefit is that almost no egg white is lost during the cooking process.  The third benefit is that this pan is user friendly; bring the water to boiling, crack the egg, empty its contents into the greased insert, cover, and wait a few minutes.  The learning curve for this pan is the greasing.  Although the poacher inserts are nonstick, the eggs still stick.  Each insert needs to have a generous coating of butter before adding the egg, or it will stick.

Now that we have mastered the greasing of the insert, this poacher is the perfect tool for making poached eggs for breakfast.  According to my husband and son, there is nothing quite like a breakfast of soft poached eggs and cheesy grits.  I may beg to differ, but it does seem to make both of them quite happy.