About Poaching

To cook completely submerged in barely simmering liquid. Don't confuse poaching with boiling, which causes most meats to become dry and tough and delicate fish fillets and eggs to break apart.

Almost any liquid can be used for poaching, but water and stock are the most commonly used. One familiar poaching liquid is the vegetable stock called court bouillon, made by simmering aromatic vegetables such as carrots, onions, leeks and fennel with a bouquet garni in water with some white wine. Other poaching liquids include meat or fish stock, light sugar syrup (for fruits), and simplest of all, water flavored with herbs and a little white wine or wine vinegar.

Sometimes the poaching liquid is served around the poached foods in wide soup bowls so that the liquid serves as a delicate stock-like sauce. For some poached foods, especially poached meats, such as French pot-au-feu or Italian bollito misto, the poaching liquid is served separately as a first-course bouillon. The poaching liquid can also be saved and used for making soups or sauces.

For even cooking, start large whole fish and larger pieces of meat in cold liquid and smaller, quicker-cooking foods, such as small whole fish and fish steaks, in hot liquid. There are several reasons for this. If a large fish is started in simmering liquid, the outside of the fish will cook before the heat has a chance to penetrate to the inside, so that the outside will overcook before the center is cooked. If on the other hand, a small fish is started in cold water and the water slowly heated, the fish can overcook before the liquid even reaches the simmer. Starting in cold liquid encourages slow-cooking meats to throw off scum that can be carefully skimmed to keep the stock clear. But quick-cooking of tender meat cuts are best started in simmering liquid so that the outside cooks quickly, leaving the inside rare to medium-rare.