8.1 Definition of Poaching:
Cooking food either partially or completely covered by a liquid which is brought to, and maintained at a temperature just below boiling point.
Poaching is an effective way of cooking foods for both hot or cold service, not only does it produce healthy food but it enhances flavour. It can however require considerable skill and judgment particularly with complex shallow poached fish dishes. Some dishes described as poach are strictly speaking a mixture of boiling & poaching for example a whole poached salmon.
Purpose:
the main reasons why foods are poached are because:
- it is a fast method of cooking tender food
- food is moved as little as possible and does not break up or fall apart
- poaching liquid can contribute to taste and make good bases for sauces
- keeps flavour of food well and does not add fats/oils
8.2 METHODS:
1) Deep Poaching — involves covering the food with cooking liquor, and is usually carried out on top of the stove .2) Shallow Poaching - is where the food is partially covered with cooking liquid. The process is usually started on top of the stove and continued in the oven. The liquid usually comes two thirds of the way up the food. The food is usually covered by a "cartouche" and often with a lid as well.
In shallow poaching the liquid is normally used to form the basis of the sauce.
Liquid used for poaching
Although plain water or salt and vinegar-infused water is used in poaching, the liquids more frequently utilized in this cooking method are usually more flavorful. Stock, court bouillon, vegetable juice, vermouth, and various aromatics, such as herbs, spices, and citrus zest, contribute to the taste of the item cooked and also serve as the basis for a congenial sauce to nap the prepared poached fish, poultry, vegetable, fruit, or meat.
Preparation
Foods need to be prepared for poaching according to their type, and cut to
the required size. Foods such as pears and eggs are poached whole, while
fish fillets and chicken breasts are poached in portions.choose a container for the stovetop to poach your chosen protein. The pot should be a bit larger than the meat with enough room to easily cover the meat with about an inch of water or stock. To the pot add your poaching liquid and bring to a boil
Cooking time varies depending on the size of the meat you are cooking. Typically, an eight-ounce portion of fish will take about 10 minutes and an equal size portion of chicken about 15 to 20 minutes. If unsure if it’s done, you can always cut into the meat before serving to make sure it has been cooked through.
8.3 temperature and timing
The key to poaching meats and proteins is to make sure that your stove temperature is not too high and that your liquid does not come to a boil, as this will cause the meat to break down, resulting in a greasy meal in which the fats are no longer separated on the top of the liquid. (Most cooks choose to skim the fat off of the top of the poaching liquid when cooking meat this way, either reserving it for use in a gravy or sauce or simply discarding it.) Because eggs cook quickly, the liquid is first brought to a boil and then turned off. Then, the eggs are added and covered until cooked to the desired doneness. When poaching eggs, in order to keep the whites in tact, it helps to add a bit of vinegar to the water (about 1 t. to 2-3 cups of liquid).
The cooking process
For most foods, the poaching liquid is heated first. When the desired
temperature is reached (93°C–95°C), the prepared food is lowered into the
barely simmering liquid, and allowed to cook in the gentle heat.
8.4 food types suitable for poaching
Poached Eggs
Instructions for poaching eggs are varied, many, and often contradictory. Some directions, for instance, recommend adding salt or vinegar to the poaching water; some call for breaking eggs into a saucer before lowering into the water; others for boiling eggs in the shell for ten seconds before breaking and poaching in water; still others for creating a whirlpool in the center of the pan and dropping each egg into it individually; and others for removing eggs and trimming them to the desired oval shape before serving.
The use of salt is debatable, although some chefs suggest that it speeds up the cooking process. Vinegar and acids, like lemon juice and wine, denature the proteins in egg whites and should be added to the poaching water. Breaking the egg into and as close to the poaching water as possible is the direct approach, but some cooks prefer the perforated cup method. Without exception, however, recipes for poached eggs advocate the use of the freshest eggs possible because the yolk membrane will still be strong, and the egg white will cling firmly to the yolk in a mass and not trail off in feathers. The older the egg, the looser the white becomes.Timing in poaching depends on the size and grade (Grade AA is preferable) of the egg, and the temperature of the poaching liquid. Some cooks suggest immersing in lightly boiling water and then, when the whites begin to set, reducing the water temperature to 175°F (79°C) or covering the pan and removing it from the heat. Cooking for too long a period of time, or with too hot a temperature, toughens the proteins. So attention to cooking time and water temperature is necessary, especially if the eggs are to be stored in fresh cold water for use later.
Recipes for poached eggs appear in almost every cookbook either as comforting food pour un malade, a display of the skill and inventiveness of the cook, or a staple of the breakfast/brunch buffet. Many distinctive dishes also are garnished with a poached egg, including the traditional veal cutlet dish Wiener schnitzel; the famous curly endive and lardon salad of Lyon, France; the American breakfast steak; and corned beef hash. In 1861, the Englishwoman Isabella Beeton suggested serving poached eggs on toasted bread or on slices of ham or bacon in her Book of Household Management. A hundred years later, avoiding what she called "that sodden toast," in French Country Cooking (1959), Elizabeth David recommended serving a poached egg on a purée of split peas, corn, or mushrooms, with fried bread on the side. And she included a traditional recipe for oeufs Benedictine, in which poached eggs are placed on a bed of creamed salt cod in individual flat dishes and napped with Hollandaise sauce. In Simple French Food (1975), an avid American practitioner of French cooking, Richard Olney, recommends preparing poached eggs and placing them in artichoke bottoms, topped with Mornay (cheese) sauce and surrounded by a julienne of lightly blanched vegetables (p. 101).
In the United States, serving poached eggs on a piece of toast covered with a slice of ham and napped with Hollandaise sauce translated into an American idiom when it was named after a Wall Street stockbroker (the term appeared in print for the first time in 1928). Lemuel Benedict reputedly used poached eggs, toast, and bacon sauced in Hollandaise as a cure for the extravagances of the "night before." In time Oscar Tschirky, maître d'hôtel of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, refined the dish by substituting toasted English muffins and ham for the toast and bacon, and by adding shaved truffles. Eggs Benedict was also served at Delmonico's restaurant in New York. The dish has not gone out of favor, but has been enhanced by many variations on the basic theme of a poached egg, toast, ham, and sauce blanche.
From the breakfast and brunch table to the buffet, chefs have devised multiple variations of oeufs-en-gelée, or cold poached eggs in jelly. Time-consuming but easy to make, jellied consommé or aspic is systematically added to a mold holding a poached egg and various garnishes until the mold is filled. After the final setting of the jelly, it is unmolded, and served.
Poached Seafood
Poaching is an ideal way to cook a large fish because no fat is used. The skin can be easily removed, and the delicate flavor and texture of the fish is preserved. The cooking process begins in cold liquid, usually a court bouillon (vegetable broth and wine) and is maintained at 176°F (80°C). If a fish poacher is too large, small whole fish, fillets, and steaks are usually wrapped in cheesecloth for easy removal and poached in any pan large enough to hold sufficient liquid to cover the fish. Some cookbooks also suggest poaching delicate fillets in melted butter in an enclosed casserole, but rather than poaching, the French call this technique poêler.
Because the poaching liquid is both flavorful and acidic, reduction and emulsified sauces can be made to nap the fish, however, the glories of French cuisine have been more traditionally displayed in the repertory of elaborate sauces—Blanche, Bordelaise, Diplomat, Dauphin, and Hollandaise—frequently prescribed for fish.
Delicate shellfish like scallops, oysters, and shrimp can also be poached in wine, aromatics, or in their own liquor. And seafood mousses in various-sized porcelain molds are always poached either on top of the stove or in the oven in a pan half-filled with water at 176°F (80°C).
Poached Meats and Poultry
Almost any tender cut of meat or poultry can be poached, and this technique offers an alternative to meats whose exteriors are browned and caramelized in the cooking process. Sweetbreads, eye of the round, small legs of lamb, duck and chicken breasts, and even beef tenderloins can be poached in stock, with or without vegetables, in a comparatively short time, and either served hot with a variety of sauces or served cold encased in a flavorful jelly or chaud-froid preparation. (Chaud-froid, literally "hot-cold," is a seasoned white or brown sauce to which gelatin is added; it is then spooned over fish or meat and glazed with aspic.) Boeuf à la ficelle is a classic variation on the traditional pot-au-feu, in which the beef tenderloin is tied with a string for easy removal from the poaching pan and served with vegetables and a reduction of the cooking stock. Formulas for finishing poached chicken breasts are as varied as the sauce repertoire for fish fillets, and again feature main course entrees as well as cold preparations.
A galantine is a dish made from the ground meat or forcemeat of poultry or meat that is stuffed into the skin of the chicken or duck of which it is made. Frequently the forcemeat is garnished with small cubes of ham, tongue, truffles, or pistachios. It is usually shaped into a cylindrical shape, wrapped in cheesecloth, tied with string, and poached in 176°F (80°C) liquid until an internal temperature of 160°F (77°C) is reached. When cool, the galantine is usually coated with aspic or a chaudfroid preparation.
Timbales, Terrines, and Quenelles
A large timbale (Arabic thabal, drum) is basically a preparation of forcemeat, meat, fish, or fruit baked with eggs and seasonings in a crust in a round mold with high sides. Small timbales are single servings of custards with forcemeat, shellfish, fish, puréed vegetables and fruits made in glass or porcelain round molds instead of a crust and poached in a water bath of 176°F (80°C) in a warm oven. Nouvelle cuisine, especially, espoused a variety of flavorful puréed vegetable timbales which captured the essence of the flavor of the main ingredient.
Whether a terrine is made with well-seasoned goose, duck, rabbit, venison, pork, or liver combined with forcemeat or delicate shellfish, fish, and vegetable mousse, the rectangular mold in which it is baked in the oven should be standing in a water bath whose temperature does not rise above 176°F (80°C). It is the gentle poaching that distinguishes the terrine from the pâté, which is baked in a crust in a hot oven.
Quenelles, on the other hand, are meat or fish forcemeat dumplings that are bound with eggs, either piped or shaped into their distinctive oval shape with two spoons, and poached in lightly salted water. Small shaped quenelles are often used as elements in various garnishes, such as financière and Toulouse. Larger quenelles, usually containing truffles, are used to embellish sizeable whole fish and other entrée presentations.
Poached Fruits
Although many nutritionists maintain that eating fruits raw provides the most vitamins, many out-of-season fruits or slightly under-ripe fruits can benefit from light cooking or poaching in a sugar syrup variously flavored with a cinnamon stick, cloves, orange, lemon zest, or vanilla. Cooking with the proper proportions of water and sugar firms the fruit, and when the fruit is lightly cooked and removed from the liquid, the fruit syrup can be reduced and thickened. At that point, fruit liquors, brandy, or rum can be added to the fruit sauce to reduce the sweetness and add more flavor. Fruits prepared this way make for simple but elegant desserts; however, poached fruits can also be glazed and served on meringues or cookies, or in custards or fruit tarts and compotes as in the classic Peach Melba and Pears Belle Hélène.
As a cooking technique that is almost ten thousand years old, poaching has always had a certain culinary cachet. Associated more often with feasting than with famine, the process of gently cooking delicate marrows, fish, shellfish, eggs, fruits, and certain kinds of poultry and meats in savory liquids has always lent finesse to various dishes, while, at the same time, exhibiting the skill of the cook.
8.5 EQUIPMENT
Various equipment can be used to poach foods:
Saucepans
Brat pans
Fish Kettles - specially designed for processing whole fish - tight fitting lids - containing a perforated drainer with handles - made from stainless steel, aluminium or tin-lined copper.
Round or oval frying pans, "sauteuse" and "plats á sauter" - used for shallow poaching - made from fireproof china, tin-lined copper, enamelled cast iron.
Always check equipment for cleanliness, cracks or defects. Clean by washing in hot water and detergent, rinsing and drying.
8.6 safety and hygene when poaching
Occupational health and safety issues
Although poaching temperatures are not quite as dangerous as boiling
temperatures, the liquid is still very hot and can cause serious burns orscalds if it makes contact with human skin. Therefore, as with boiling
liquids, you need to be aware of the presence of hot liquids, and ensure
that handles can not be caught on sleeves or passing hands. When you
lower food items into the poaching liquid, you should do so carefully to
prevent splashes that can cause burns and scalds.
Hygiene issues
Before poaching fruit, ensure that it has been thoroughly washed, both
before and after peeling. If you cut up fruit, wash it, too, before and after
peeling. This double washing will prevent cross-contamination.
Animal proteins need to be kept refrigerated until it is time to place
them into the poaching liquid. Poultry and fish should only be left after
cooking until they are just cool. If they are not required for food service,
they should be stored at the correct temperature immediately.
All poaching equipment must be washed thoroughly after use. Egg, in
particular, tends to stick to utensils, so inspect them carefully both before and after use.
• when pots of boiling liquids are on stoves, make sure that handles are
T urned in so that sleeves or hands will not be caught on them
• when you place food items into boiling water, you should gently lower
T hem into the water to prevent splashing and scalding
• reduce the risk of splashes by ensuring that the cooking vessel is large
enough to cover the food, as well as large enough to allow extra space
above the water when it boils
• when removing hot lids, use a tea towel or wooden spoon hooked
under the handle to prevent the burning of fingers and hands.
• when removing the lid, tilt it away from your face, to allow the steam to escape safely.
1. Collect equipment and check for cleanliness, capacity & lid.
2. Collect ingredients and prepare.
3. Prepare the cooking liquid.
4. Add seasonings and flavourings.
5. Maintain cooking temperature after putting food in carefully.
6. Pay attention to timing.
7. Drain carefully and prepare sauce.
8. Garnish
Draining - take care that food does not fall apart use palette knife or fish slice.
Reducing - shake the pan and stir to prevent burning
Holding for service - hold as little as possible - eggs can be refreshed and reheated as required.
Use of Cartouche - defined as grease proof paper placed over shallow poached food.
Court-bouillon - which is a flavoured liquid used mainly for poaching fish
Fumet - is a reduced stock used when shallow poaching fish.
Skinning - of poultry prior to poaching or remove from fish prior to service.
Eggs - add a little vinegar to the water break egg into cup and pour into water.
Fruit - cooked in hot syrup often with lemon juice added.
Make sure cooking liquor is cool when adding fish - hot liquid will contract the surface and spoil appearance.
Skim - frequently when cooking meat and poultry to remove impurities.
Blanch - meat before poaching to remove impurities i.e.. bring to boil from cold - drain and refresh.
Truss poultry and Tie meat in a neat shape to ensure even cooking.
Once you have the poaching liquid, or court bouillon, ready and at the proper poaching temperature, the procedure is simple. Simply drop into the liquid whatever you wish to poach. As the ingredient cooks, maintain the proper poaching temperature. (There are some exceptions to this procedure. Some fish that are poached whole and are intended to be served cold are started in a cold instead of a hot court bouillon. But that is for another day...)
The difficulty in poaching is knowing when the ingredient is properly cooked. Unlike sautéing or grilling, you can not simply touch the product as it cooks to judge its doneness. Every time you want to check the doneness of an item, you must gently remove it from the poaching liquid using a slotted spoon or slotted spatula. At first, it may seem somewhat time consuming, but with practice, you will get a feeling for about how long certain products take to cook.
When an item is done, remove it from the poaching liquid, drain it, and serve with the appropriate sauce or condiment.
