Surprisingly Unique and Simplified Way To Make Eggs

Poached egg with soy sauce and white pepper

If I wanted some protein that’s warm and easy to mix into a meal, I would reach for some eggs. I’ve even tried a recipe that only required water and some seasoning, but it wasn’t for boiled eggs!

Below are some links to more details, including photos:


My Story

While I was writing about my experience with a steamed chicken recipe, I was curious about chicken soup recipes with ginger and wine. What I found was the Chinese Chicken Soup Recipe from Yangsze Choo’s blog.


Inspiring Recipe

As I continued browsing through Yangsze’s posts, I found How to Poach Eggs in Their Shells. With such a straightforward method of cooking eggs, I had to try it!

First Try

With the few required ingredients already at home, I was ecstatic to jump right in.

Ingredients to Use

For the ingredients, I followed what was noted on the blog post.

White pepper, soy sauce, and eggs
White pepper, soy sauce, and eggs

Steps to Prepare

Of the five steps in the instructions, I modified step 2 slightly by using a 3-quart saucepan only because it didn’t seem like my 1.5-quart saucepan would have held the water and eggs without the water overflowing.

Perhaps I should’ve accounted for some water loss during the boiling process and assumed that the small saucepan would’ve been big enough?

Eggs in saucepan after sitting in water
Eggs in saucepan after sitting in water

Time to Eat

After adding some soy sauce and white pepper to the egg, it was ready.

Poached egg in a glass ramekin with soy sauce and white pepper
Poached egg in a glass ramekin with soy sauce and white pepper

Recipe Rating

Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:

Number
of Ingredients
Effort
(Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏)
Cost per Serving
(<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰)
Taste
(Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋)
4️⃣*🤏💰🙂
* Includes water

I would’ve preferred the egg to be warmer and firmer. Also, it needed a little more soy sauce and a lot more pepper. After the taste test, I just dumped the remaining egg in a bowl of rice and called it a day.

Second Try

For the second batch of eggs, I wanted them to be more solid, slightly hotter, and with more flavor.

Ingredients to Use

During the second try, I only switched the soy sauce because the previous one was all used up.

New bottle of Kimlan aged soy sauce
New bottle of soy sauce

Steps to Prepare

As for the process this time, I only tweaked steps 4 and 5.

For Step 4, I had the eggs sit in the saucepan for a few more minutes, totaling 18 minutes.

As for Step 5, I added more soy sauce and white pepper as compared to the first try.

Poached egg in an off-white ramekin before seasoning
Poached egg in a ramekin before seasoning

Time to Eat

When the egg was ready to be served, I was anxious to see if it was more satisfying.

Poached egg in an off-white ramekin with soy sauce and white pepper (Try 2)
Poached egg in a ramekin with soy sauce and white pepper (Try 2)

Recipe Rating

Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:

Number
of Ingredients
Effort
(Low🤏, Medium🤏🤏, High🤏🤏🤏)
Cost per Serving
(<$2💰, $2-5💰💰, >$5💰💰💰)
Taste
(Not for me🤔, Trying Again🙂, Eating Regularly😋)
4️⃣*🤏💰🙂
* Includes water

The egg had a nice kick from the white pepper and good flavor from the soy sauce. However, though it was warmer and less watery than before, I still would like it more solid. Nonetheless, I would still prepare eggs using this method if I wanted to keep the process simple.


To get the eggs to cook better, I will try the following next time:

Continuous Improvement

  1. Use a smaller saucepan and add less cold water in Step 2, if there’s not enough room.

After poaching eggs in their shells using an oversized saucepan, I learned the following that I would like to share with my younger self:

Lesson for Dumber Self

  1. Sometimes you just have to trust the recommendation provided by an expert!

What will you do now?

Next Step for You

  1. Try the recipe, How to Poach Eggs in Their Shells, from Yangsze Choo’s blog?
  2. Share a tip on how you achieved firmer egg whites for poached eggs?
  3. Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)

It’s your choice!

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