52 Weeks of Cooking Challenge

If you've stuck through my on again off again blogging attempts (or read the archives) you may remember the 52 Weeks of Cooking Challenge I did a few years ago.  Well it's still going on and I've decided to give it another go this year.  I figure it works well with this month's eating in challenge and since I'm only doing the cooking challenge this time and not also the baking challenge I may make it just a little bit farther into the year.  I also have no major plans for the year (no move or huge vacation) so hopefully I can manage.

Week One's challenge is eggs so I decided to try a new method of poaching eggs (I love me a good poached egg)

This one was not so good a poached egg.  (okay these two were not good poached eggs)

I used the method from my new cookbook purchased with Christmas Amazon funds:

I love the cookbook.  It's my new best friend.  I think, however, I'm not listening to it like I should be in a good relationship.

The recipe calls for 2 T. vingear and 1 t. salt in the water in a saucepan.  I got that right.  See?

Well okay you can't see as vinegar is clear and the salt dissolved.  But trust me.  It's there.

Where I think I failed is bringing it to a rolling boil.  I thought it was a rolling boil.  It had been cooking long enough and it looked rolling boil-y to me.  I tipped my eggs in from a teacup (okay coffee cup we don't do tea in this house), covered the pan with a lid and removed it from the heat to cook for 3.5 minutes.

After checking the eggs they were decidedly not done and I continued to cook them for another minute and a half.  Then I gave up and ate them anyway.  They were okay.  But they were also probably the worst eggs I've ever poached.  The whites were not set right and the yolks were more done than I prefer and the only conclusion I can come to is the water wasn't hot enough when I put the eggs in.  

I also think now that I'm looking back at it- I should have left it on the same burner just turned it off.  Could that have made enough of a difference?  Mayhaps its poached eggs again for dinner.  I'll report back if I can get them right with this method.  Otherwise its back to my old simmer in a saucepan method.  Those cooked right, but never looked pretty.