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I made poached eggs with a sous vide machine and it changed my life

poached egg
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Unless you're a professional chef, perfect poached eggs are nearly impossible to make.

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Even though the directions call for you to simply slip the egg into simmering water, it's challenging to have the egg whites form perfectly around the yolk. And if you want to make a whole bunch of poached eggs, say for homemade ramen or group brunch, you might find yourself becoming flustered.

So when I was offered an Anova precision cooker to test out, I immediately knew poached eggs were on my list of food to make. 

anova sous vide cooking
Megan Willett/Tech Insider

It should be noted here that the term "sous-vide eggs" is something of a misnomer. Unlike other sous vide techniques where you need a plastic and/or vacuum sealed bag to hold your food in the hot water (sous vide literally means "under vacuum" in French), the eggs already have the perfect cover — their shells — and can just bob around in there.

And even though this technique is easier than most, it still required a separate pot of water. 

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The instructions on the Anova recipe list from Serious Eats say to first let your egg(s) float around for 45 minutes in 145 degrees Fahrenheit water.

sous vide eggs
Megan Willett/Tech Insider

Once the timer stops, take out your egg with a slotted spoon and slowly break it open. Some runny whites will come out, but don’t worry — you don’t need those.

sous vide poached egg
Megan Willett/Tech Insider

Then, slip the wobbly egg into a simmering pot of water and let the egg whites firm up for about a minute. The bubbles should keep it from sticking to the bottom, but stir the water if the egg starts to sit for too long at the bottom so as to avoid a poached egg that's flat on one side.

sous vide poached egg
Megan Willett/Tech Insider

Simply remove your poached egg with a slotted spoon and serve.

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The result was the best poached egg I’ve ever made — the whites were perfectly cooked and the yolk was the exact consistency you'd find at a restaurant.

In the future if I ever want to make poached eggs again, I would turn to the sous vide machine first and foremost, especially if I'm cooking for a bunch of people and want to make more than one egg.

sous vide eggs poached
Megan Willett/Tech Insider

So when the nearly 60,000 YouTube videos teaching you how to poach an egg fail you, consider giving sous vide poached eggs a try.

Eggs
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