Turkish Style Poached Eggs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making perfect poached eggs? ›

For even poaching, ensure the eggs are submerged in a few inches of water. A cook time of just 2½ minutes yields poached eggs with set whites and runny yolks. If you prefer firmer yolks, poach the eggs for 4–5 minutes, or until the yolk no longer jiggles when pressed.

It's simply poached eggs over a bed of garlicky yogurt drizzled with a spiced butter sauce. Make sure to use Greek yogurt versus simply a plain yogurt because you want it to be a thick spread for the base of the dish.

Add a generous pinch of salt and a little bit of vinegar. The salt helps season the eggs, and the vinegar helps the egg whites stay together while they poach. The vinegar is optional, but I use it when I poach eggs. (We only use 1 tablespoon, which isn't enough to flavor the eggs.)

Tips for Poaching Eggs

Use Cold Eggs: this will keep your timings consistent. If using room temperature eggs, check the eggs earlier for doneness. Vinegar Substitutions: Use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Avoid dark vinegar like balsamic which will discolor the eggs.

What are Turkish eggs? Turkish eggs, called çilbir (chill-burr), is a dish dating back to the Ottoman Empire around the 15th century. As it's made today, there are just three main components: eggs, yogurt and chile oil.

Divide the warm creamy yogurt between two shallow bowls, top each with a poached egg, pour the peppery butter around and slightly over the yogurt, scatter the chopped dill on top, and eat dreamily, dipping in some thick well-toasted bread as you do so.

Taste. It is very difficult to tell the difference between turkey and chicken eggs in terms of taste. Most people agree that they are almost identical, although you may be able to detect a slightly creamier taste in turkey eggs thanks to their relatively higher fat content.

The other way is to increase the acidity of how you're cooking it. "Vinegar is an inherently acidic material, so if we add a few drops of vinegar into that boiling water that is going to increase the rate of denaturing and it's going to make that happen faster and help the poached egg hold its shape better."

A really soft poached egg should take around 2 minutes and a soft-to-firm one will need 4 minutes (it depends on the size of the egg and whether you're using it straight from the fridge). To check if it's done, carefully remove your egg from the pan with a slotted spoon and give it a gentle prod with a teaspoon.

It's completely optional and not even necessary, but if you do want to try it, stir one tablespoon of distilled white vinegar into the boiling water before you add the eggs. Can you poach more than one egg at a time? If you're hosting a brunch party, you may want to poach more than one egg at time—and you can!

How do restaurants make poached eggs so round? ›

Poaching eggs is a simple enough technique: Start with a deep saucepot that will hold enough water to create a vortex. The swirling water will help the egg white envelop the yolk evenly as the egg white proteins set, creating a nice natural shape.

Stir the water to create a gentle whirlpool which will help the egg white wrap around the yolk. Then carefully slide the egg into the water making sure the heat is low enough not to throw the egg around - there should only be small bubbles rising.

The other way is to increase the acidity of how you're cooking it. "Vinegar is an inherently acidic material, so if we add a few drops of vinegar into that boiling water that is going to increase the rate of denaturing and it's going to make that happen faster and help the poached egg hold its shape better."

Poach eggs cold, not at room temperature

Cold eggs are more viscous, meaning they're thicker and stickier, so they'll be better able to hold together when you begin cooking them. Room-temp or slightly warm eggs will be more prone to falling apart.

Eggs with a softish shell are highly likely to have watery whites. It is only when you have watery whites or older eggs to use that a poaching gadget may be useful, but adding white wine vinegar to the poaching water instead will help keep the whites together better.

While it is optional, I highly recommend using vinegar when you poach eggs. The vinegar makes the water slightly acidic, which helps the egg hold its shape better.