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Michelle Priddy’s husband passed away suddenly last week. The Sentinel offers our profound condolences on her tragic loss. Until we find a suitable replacement for her column, The Sentinel will run some of her previous columns.

At our house, poached eggs means bring a pan of water to a boil, turn the burner on low, let the roiling boil come to a slow leisurely simmer, then add an egg and wait. I’ve read recipes that call for salt and/or vinegar, but I like simple. As I was growing up, a pan that held Teflon coated cups was all I’d ever seen to make poached eggs. For years I avoided poaching eggs because I didn’t have “the pan.”

Then our daughter came home from visiting Grandma Gay and knew how to make poached eggs in a pan of water! Imagine my delight when my daughter took the time to teach me how to make Poached Eggs the Old Fashioned Way.

In a sauce pan, (I prefer a tall sided one and a half quart- mine is American made, has a copper bottom, is about six inches across and four inches high) lay the unbroken egg you are going to poach on the bottom. It will lay on its side. In your mind, mark on the side of the pan how high the egg is setting in the pan, then double it. Keep the mark in your mind as you take the egg out of the pan. Now fill the pan to that mark. It should be double the height of the egg. For our chicken eggs that are about 1 ¼ inches, that will be two and a half inches of water. For the duck eggs that run about 1 ½ inches, that would be three inches. For a goose egg? I’d need a bigger pan.

Once the egg is out and the water is in, put die pan on the stove and bring the water to a boil. Turn the burner down to low, wait for the roiling boil come to a slow leisurely simmer and add the egg. If the water bubbles to ferociously, pull the pan off the burner until the burner is cool enough to let tire water simmer then set the pan cautiously back on the burner.

The idea is to cook the egg without breaking it all apart. There will be tendrils of egg white ribbons wrapping here and there, and that can’t be avoided because heated water moves. If the water is moving to fast resulting in egg curdles, all is not lost. Instead of a poached egg, just drain out the water and use the egg in an egg salad sandwich, stir fried rice, a breakfast roll up or soup. Or just eat it as is.] Let the water turn the top of the egg over the yoke opaque. When the top is totally white, touch the top of the egg white over the yoke with a teaspoon to determine if the yoke is your type of done. Do this gently. Poke the yolk to hard and it will break. I know.

I like my poached egg yolks a little more fluid than our daughter dose so she lets hers cook longer than mine. The longer the cooking time, the firmer the egg yolk will become. When you are satisfied the egg is done to your liking, using a slotted spoon, lift the egg out of the pan, sprinkle with whatever you like to eat your egg with and enjoy.

Options: Grandma tells me how Great Grandma used to poach eggs in milk. Each of her siblings would get a poached egg over a slice of homemade bread with a ladle of the warm milk. I saw the delight in her eyes and I know I’m going to have to try it. Also eggs can be poached in broth as well .

Note: The amount of water matters because it holds the heat that cooks the egg. I can cook two eggs in a reasonable amount of time in my 1 ½ quart pan, but three eggs? That pushes the limit. When I want to cook more than two poached eggs, I use my 2 quart sauce pan.