This is an exciting day on The Rose Table. After six years of publishing recipes, I am FINALLY publishing how to poach eggs. It’s kind of nuts that this has never appeared on therosetable.com before, since I’ve been poaching eggs since I was a teenager. It’s my favorite breakfast! I eat poached eggs more than anything else for breakfast. Here’s how I do it.

I am a huge poached egg snob. Ask any of my friends. I’m always shocked at how often restaurants get it wrong: the yolk will be too hard or, even worse, the white will still be runny. This is the only method you’ll ever need to poach perfect eggs every time.

Poaching is the healthiest way to cook an egg, as the egg is cooked in water, not butter. Don’t be afraid to poach eggs! I’m going to walk you through it.

I usually just poach eggs two at a time for myself but I’ve poached as many as six at a time. All you have to do is fill a small sauce pan up 3/4 full with water and a splash of distilled vinegar. Crack two eggs in measuring cups so they’re ready to go. Bring the water to a boil then immediately turn the heat down to low – and I mean super low. The lowest setting. Slide each egg into the water, giving the area above the egg a little swirl with a spoon. Set your time for four minutes and wait. At exactly four minutes (for hard white and a runny yolk), remove eggs with a slotted spoon. Serve on buttered toast.

Now I doctor up my poached eggs all sorts of way. You’ve seen the variations many, many times on my social media. I always sprinkle a fancy sea salt on top with freshly cracked black pepper and either chopped parsley or chives. Sometimes when I’m feeling fancy, I’ll put smoked salmon on toast before laying the eggs on top. Lately I’ve been sprinkling on paprika and sesame seeds. Once you’ve mastered the poached eggs, there’s so many things to do with it!