Nope But there’s a good reason to salt your water: it makes your eggs tastier Just like pasta or potatoes, eggs absorb salt from the water as they cook, leading to a more evenly seasoned finished product Q: Why are poached eggs so freaking delicious? This is a question that modern science has yet to answer and may well never get around to Some scientists remark that the lack of progress on this particular front is due to the fact that other scientists don’t spend the time to make and enjoy a good breakfast Q: Should I agitate my eggs as they cook, or swirl the water as I add them, as some books suggest? The strainer-to-pan technique completely eliminates the need to swirl the water before you add the eggs, a trick designed to help the eggs keep a nice, even torpedo shape What you do want to is to make sure the eggs move around after they’ve started to set up If you cook your eggs with no motion at all, they will end up resembling fried eggs in shape, with flat bottoms and a pronounced dome around the yolks You also run the risk of overcooking the bottoms and toughening them, as they are in direct contact with the hot bottom of the pan By moving them around in the water and gently flipping them, you get more even cooking and a more even shape I use a wooden spoon to flip them with the water currents, rather than trying to pick them up with the spoon Q: Diners have, what, fifty seats in them? How the heck can I serve more than a few eggs at a time? Diners are staffed by superhuman cooking machines known as short-order cooks, who have spent years practicing how to poach eggs perfectly You want to get that good? One solution: practice OK, there’s another way to get there, but don’t tell anyone, promise? Just cook the darn things in advance Poached eggs can be taken out of the pan right after cooking and transferred to cold water to chill They’ll stay there in a state of suspended animation for as long as you’d like (Or as long as they don’t begin to rot.) You can store them for a few hours or even a few nights in the fridge Then, 15 minutes before you’re ready to serve, just plop them into a bowl of hot water to warm up Poached eggs by their very nature are never very hot—their yolks would solidify if they were So 140°F, the temperature of hot water straight out of my tap, is just about the perfect temperature for reheating poached eggs ... They’ll stay there in a state of suspended animation for as long as you’d like (Or as long as they don’t begin to rot.) You can store them for a few hours or even a few nights in the fridge Then,... get that good? One solution: practice OK, there’s another way to get there, but don’t tell anyone, promise? Just cook the darn things in advance Poached eggs can be taken out of the pan right after cooking and transferred to cold water to... ready to serve, just plop them into a bowl of hot water to warm up Poached eggs by their very nature are never very hot—their yolks would solidify if they were So 140°F, the temperature of hot water