poached eggs

When looking to round out a meal come brunch, lunch, or dinnertime, I stick to a simple motto: put an egg on it (not to be confused with "put a bird on it" . . . ). While fried and scrambled are nice, I hold a special place in my heart for the oozing yolks of a perfectly poached egg, but until now I hadn't thought of them as portable. It turns out, with an ingenious kitchen hack, these luscious eggs can become a protein-packed part of the brown-bag lunch rotation. Keep reading to find out the simple secret.

Few culinary tasks are as simultaneously simple and complex as poaching eggs. While it's easy enough to plop an egg or two into a bath of simmering water, it takes a touch of practice and know-how to achieve consistently satisfying results. Lucky for you, we've done the legwork, testing out a variety of tips and tricks to determine what works best.

• Use the freshest eggs you can find: as eggs age the white becomes looser, more watery, and less likely to form a cohesive mass around the yolk when poached. If you have access to eggs from the farmers market, here's the time to use them; save older eggs for hard-boiling and baking.
• Rather than crack an egg directly into a pot of water to cook, crack each egg into an individual ramekin so that it can be gently turned out into the water and is therefore less likely to break.
• If using slightly older eggs, drain off any loose egg white before poaching. Crack each egg into a fine mesh strainer set over the sink, and allow any watery egg white to drain off before gently transferring each egg into its own ramekin.

Keep reading for four more tips.

Last weekend, I heard two different acquaintances confess that they don't like chocolate. Not that they prefer dark, or milk, or white, or have an allergy, or gave it up for Lent — just that they don't like it. I was shocked, but then got to thinking about a few universally popular foods that I'm not such a fan of myself — poached eggs, to name one (I know!). I suppose there isn't such a thing as a universally beloved food, so tell me: what popular food do you dislike?

Source: Flickr user Denis Dervisevic

As a child, I was excited when my mom would declare, "Tonight we're having breakfast for dinner." Usually this involved pancakes or waffles, but now that I'm older, "breakfast for dinner" must include eggs. Today, I'm looking forward to trying this delicious-sounding recipe that combines sweet potatoes with onions and bacon to create a bed for poached eggs. A quick and simple hollandaise sauce is made fiery by the addition of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

If you don't have time to poach eggs, consider topping the hash with fried eggs instead. Learn how to make this meal, after the jump.

• Inside Eataly, Mario Batali's massive new Italian market in New York City. — Eater NY
• Top Chef's Amanda shares her dreams of bringing beautiful people food. — Feast
• McDonald's hamburgers are almost entirely indestructible. — Grub Street NY
• Chatting with one of the contestants on Top Chef: Just Desserts. — The Epi-Log
• Chef Charles Phan shares his go-to dish. — Chow
• Do "better" eggs really taste better? — Serious Eats
• Meet the world's most expensive cookbooks. — Huffington Post Food
• Genius! How to poach an egg in the microwave. — The Kitchn

As a little girl, I used to love it when my mom declared that we were having "breakfast for dinner." This meal usually involved pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Nowadays when I enjoy breakfast for dinner, the menu is a little more sophisticated and always includes poached eggs. The next time I am craving eggs for dinner, I'll be making this vegetarian recipe. With its slab of broiled feta cheese and dusting of spicy ancho chili powder, it's a masterpiece of simple, elegant cooking. Briny olives, crispy focaccia, and fresh sage finish off the dish while providing a Mediterranean feel to the meal. To serve with a glass of chilled fruity Rosé, get the recipe and read more

A friend of mine recently gave me some fresh eggs from her backyard chicken coop, complete with the hugest, yellowest yolks I've ever had the pleasure of eating. Since I love a sweet and savory breakfast sandwich, I got out the strawberry and meyer lemon marmalade that had done me so right before and combined it with crisped prosciutto and my favorite English muffins.

Though this is technically a breakfast sandwich, I had it for dinner. The salty, fruity flavor combined with the kick of green onion was sufficiently complex for supper. Don't worry: any old citrus marmalade will substitute just fine. Find out how to make your own version.