Saturday morning K. and I went to
Sabrina's (and Spencer's Too) Cafe for breakfast. I ordered two poached eggs and sausage links, which were served with wheat toast and home fries.
K. wanted no part of this photograph, which means, of course, I'm posting it. No, not really because of that. I just kind of like the placement of her hand over her face, and the fork coming forward. You can also see some of the breakfast burrito she ordered and enjoyed. The overall dining experience was very pleasant.
Sabrina's does good food and has nice waitstaff and, at least when I've been, it's almost always crowded. How do they do that, I wonder? I wonder about this because I don't think of Serena's as a magical place...where either the food makes the place or the place makes the food. I like trying new things and really developing an opinion about what makes something tasty or not tasty. But I'm not really an expert, in any real way, about food. In fact, I'd bet that in a layman's universe I am the premiere intellect on what makes a good two-poached-egg-sausage-links-homefries and wheat-toast sort of breakfast. I really need to learn how to make a good poached egg instead of constantly judging others'. Somehow making poached eggs has always been a struggle. During my last poaching endeavor I used a highly MacGuyver approach...but while MacGuyver usually makes really intricate things out of simple things, I made a very simple thing into something entirely too complex and laborious...oh and probably cancer causing. This method involved capturing the eggs in tiny saran wrap balloons of sorts, tied with string or rubber bands; it's more difficult than you would think, cracking an egg into a saran wrap packet. One chef told me that poaching eggs is as simple as a lot of vinegar. I've read that it's about keeping the water at a simmer, never a boil. I've heard that one should poach in a shallow pan keeping the water always turning in a circle: a whirlpool with an egg in the center. Others say a bigger pot or saucepan. It's a complex issue, poaching an egg.
K. wanted no part of this photograph, which means, of course, I'm posting it. No, not really because of that. I just kind of like the placement of her hand over her face, and the fork coming forward. You can also see some of the breakfast burrito she ordered and enjoyed. The overall dining experience was very pleasant.
Sabrina's does good food and has nice waitstaff and, at least when I've been, it's almost always crowded. How do they do that, I wonder? I wonder about this because I don't think of Serena's as a magical place...where either the food makes the place or the place makes the food. I like trying new things and really developing an opinion about what makes something tasty or not tasty. But I'm not really an expert, in any real way, about food. In fact, I'd bet that in a layman's universe I am the premiere intellect on what makes a good two-poached-egg-sausage-links-homefries and wheat-toast sort of breakfast. I really need to learn how to make a good poached egg instead of constantly judging others'. Somehow making poached eggs has always been a struggle. During my last poaching endeavor I used a highly MacGuyver approach...but while MacGuyver usually makes really intricate things out of simple things, I made a very simple thing into something entirely too complex and laborious...oh and probably cancer causing. This method involved capturing the eggs in tiny saran wrap balloons of sorts, tied with string or rubber bands; it's more difficult than you would think, cracking an egg into a saran wrap packet. One chef told me that poaching eggs is as simple as a lot of vinegar. I've read that it's about keeping the water at a simmer, never a boil. I've heard that one should poach in a shallow pan keeping the water always turning in a circle: a whirlpool with an egg in the center. Others say a bigger pot or saucepan. It's a complex issue, poaching an egg.
5 comments:
I've just had two poached eggs -- and though they are never perfectly shaped (I've no patience for that), I do enjoy them. I use the vinegar approach, plus some salt; I let the eggs glide in when the water is nearly boiling, then I cover the pan and remove it from the heat and just let the eggs sit in the hot water for a while. It works for me...
Oh heavens, cheat and buy (or ask for as a gift) one of those high end egg coddler holder things. They come in all sorts of materials from glazed metal three-fors to that fancy schmancy feels like rubber heat withstanding stuff that the fancy schmancy spatulas and cookie sheets are made of.
I have tried using the rings from home-canned canned goods, add a bit of butter in the groove, put them in water not to cover, get the water boiling hot then turn it off, as Huckleberry here does, gently glide the eggs in and let them brew. Got your eggs corraled without plastic. EEEEUWWW plastic. Don't even get me started on the "boil in a bag" omlettes that are all the rage among those who don't cook...Anyway good luck. A fake alterative is to fry them on one side then add hot water to cover. A po-fried egg perhaps???
I actually don't like eggs cooked in the little containers that supposedly corral the whites. I have 3 "tricks" - I lightly spray the bottom of the pan before I put the water in, I put the egg(s) into the water by pouring them from a little cup, and yes, I do put vinegar in the water before I bring it to boil. (That and the cup help the white not to get all stringy.) And because I have sprayed the bottom of the pan, I am able to flip the egg in the pan to guarantee that it is fully cooked. (Although the suggestion to cover the pan might substitute.)
I'm glad that it's not just me. Poached egg methods are a hot topic! I have used cheat-poached-egg things in the past...but then the shape of the eggs were more like a hockey puck than a golf ball. It was a bummer.
Um, omlettes in a bag are maybe the grossest concept I've heard in a while.
Omlettes in a bag in a picture are even nastier. But the recipe came to me from a friend who had been to a churchwomen's retreat (a foreign concept in and of itself but I digress) and the chick in charge of breakfast one AM sprang this on them. Verily, eggs with whatever favs for innards, each in a zipping locking bag, boiled. EEEUWW but then, this crowd of which I malign also uses lots of cream of something soup for the basis of many a dish.
I have fond memories of my mother's poached eggs from the cup thingy. They were tender and mostly goopy in the yolk like I like them, and the whole healthy no frying part was completely eliminated by a happy pat of butter on top as they finished.
I am too old to eat a lot of eggs even tho I like them a lot, but I just may have to 'speriment tomorrow and make an egg po-fried for breakfast!!!!
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