By America's Test Kitchen
This is Technique #29 from our 100 Techniques Every Home Cook Can Master.
Each technique is broken into three sections: why it works, key steps, and recipes that use it. Learn these recipe building blocks and you'll be set up for a lifetime of cooking success.
When we think of poaching, our thoughts turn to flavorful, tender chicken salads or to perfectly poached eggs perched atop green salads or English muffins.
Poaching is a much gentler cooking method than dry-heat options such as searing, roasting, and grilling since it allows the food to retain moisture and fat that would be squeezed out by other cooking methods.
When done well, poached foods are exceptionally tender, moist, and clean- tasting, offering a blank slate that’s ideal for use in any number of creative applications.
We don’t advocate for the traditional method of poaching, however. It’s fussy and too hands-on, calling for maintaining a pot of water at a very specific temperature just below a simmer (160 to 180 degrees) for the duration of the cooking time.
By taking away the fussiness, we created a foolproof technique for poaching.
The secret? Once you've added the chicken or eggs to the water, cover the pot, remove it from the heat, and let it stand until the chicken or eggs are cooked. The beauty of this technique is that it’s extremely gentle and mostly hands-off and results in succulent meat or perfectly poached eggs.
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Cooking food in plain water doesn’t do much for flavor and has a somewhat deserved reputation for producing “spa food.” To combat this, we add seasonings directly into the water to infuse whatever we're poaching with flavor right from the start.
For superflavorful poached chicken, we season the water with soy sauce, garlic, salt, and sugar. In the case of eggs, this is as simple as adding salt and vinegar to the boiling water, which also has the added (and essential) benefit of helping the egg proteins bond together.
Another way we prevent the egg whites from wisping away into raggedy threads in the water? Drain the raw eggs in a colander before cooking. It seems counterintuitive, but every egg contains two kinds of white, thick and thin. The thinner portion, which is most prone to spreading out, drains away, while the thicker portion clings to the golden yolk.
Now that you know the science behind the technique, follow these steps to achieve tender, flavorful poached chicken.
Cover trimmed chicken breasts with plastic wrap and pound thick ends gently until 3/4 inch thick. Whisk water with salt and other seasonings in Dutch oven.
Arrange breasts in steamer basket without overlapping. Submerge in pot. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until water registers 175 degrees.
Turn off heat, cover pot, remove from heat, and let stand until chicken registers 160 degrees. Transfer chicken to cutting board and let rest.
Poaching eggs is much simpler than you might think. Just follow these steps.
Crack eggs into colander and let loose, watery whites briefly drain away. Transfer eggs to 2-cup measuring cup.
Gently tip eggs into salted boiling water, one at a time, leaving space between. Turn off heat, cover pot, remove from heat, and let stand until whites closest to yolks are just set and opaque.
Using slotted spoon, lift and drain each egg over pot.
Want to put your newfound knowledge of poaching to use? Try it with these recipes.
Ready to learn another technique? Choose from our list of 100 Techniques Every Home Cook Can Master.
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