Poached eggs are notoriously difficult to get right, as they often involve complex cooking methods that can end in a soggy mess if done incorrectly.
One of the most popular methods for poaching involves using white vinegar in boiling water to help the egg stay intact when you submerge it, but even that isn't fool-proof - and now one Michelin-star chef is telling people to ditch the vinegar for good.
Paul Foster, who is the owner of the fine dining restaurant Salt, shared a viral video online in which he taught cooking fans a hassle-free way to nail poached eggs every time without ever having to break out the vinegar.
In a video shared to his @paulfosterchef account on TikTok, he said: "I was shown, when I was a young chef, to use vinegar but I’ve learned a better way. This is the better way."
The chef began with a pan of water which he heated on a stove and warned: "Do NOT add vinegar. Whatever people tell you, you do not need it."
Next, he added a pinch of salt to the water and picked up an egg, which he insisted should be as "fresh an egg as possible", and should be at room temperature.
Paul's tip for cracking an egg was to crack it into a sieve in order to "get off any watery bits on the white", and he urged people not to put it into the water until it was boiling.
He then turned the water to just under a boil and instructed the audience to give the pan a quick stir.
The chef added: "Give it a stir, you don't need to whisk it and create a vortex. The stir just helps it to move so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan."
He said that this way the "protein can set … and [the egg] just curls up lovely."
Once the egg was in the water, Paul then turned the hob down so the water was just under a boil and set a two-minute timer, as although he said the time wouldn't be enough to fully cook the egg, he always likes to "check it before".
The chef also insisted that while the egg is cooking it was important to "give it a little look" and not walk away from the pan, as he emphasised the importance of not letting the water get back to a boil.
He added: "See how the water is not boiling. There's no vinegar in there, it's not gone all scummy and it's not going to taste like c**p."
After two minutes, Paul checked his egg and claimed it wasn't quite done, so continued to cook it for another 30 seconds, during which time he stressed: "Don't be tempted to turn it up and start boiling it."
The chef then took his egg out of the water and drained off the excess water on a paper towel, which he said was important as it would stop anything you put the egg on - such as toast - from going soggy.
Paul cut into the egg to show it was cooked to perfection and revealed it had a delicious and runny yolk, as he said: "That is a perfectly cooked runny yolk, and a nice soft white. You can't get better than that."
The chef ended his video by insisting that you don't need to try any tricks to make the perfect egg.
He explained: "You don't need a microwave, you don't need one of those stupid egg poachers. You just need a pan with some water, with no vinegar in it. Just a little bit of salt."
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