Poached Eggs Maintenon

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 3-quart (3-liter) saucepan for poaching
• •Two or three small heavy saucepans
• •Small rimmed metal baking sheet
• •Wide slotted spoon
• •Broad metal spatula or fish slice
• •4 warm dinner plates

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the fierce oven

   Set an oven rack about 6 inches (15 cm) below the broiler and heat the broiler on high for a full ten minutes. Arrange the tartlet crusts on a small bare metal baking sheet and warm four serving plates. A thoroughly heated broiler is the home salamander: it must color the Mornay in moments, before the heat has time to harden the yolks.

2. 2

   Ready the components

   Put the Soubise à la Béchamel in a small saucepan and reduce it over medium-low heat, stirring often, until ¾ cup (180 ml / about 190 g) remains and a spoon drawn across the pan leaves a clean path. Warm the Mornay sauce separately over the gentlest heat, never letting it boil, and melt the meat-glaze in another small pan. If the Mornay becomes grainy, take it off the heat, whisk in a teaspoon of hot water, and strain it. Ça se rattrape. If the meat-glaze will not flow from a spoon in a fine thread, loosen it with hot water a few drops at a time; if it runs like stock, simmer it briefly until glossy and lightly syrupy.

   The Soubise is ready when it mounds softly on the spoon. A loose filling soaks the pastry and lets the egg slide, so reduce first and assemble second.
3. 3

   Poach at a tremble

   Bring the water and vinegar to the barest tremble in a wide saucepan, about 185 to 190°F (85 to 88°C), with small movements beneath the surface but no rolling boil. Crack each egg into its own cup. Lower two eggs into the water and poach for 2½ to 3 minutes, gently folding any loose white toward its yolk with a spoon, until the white is set and the yolk remains supple. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Lift each egg with a slotted spoon, blot the underside on a folded clean towel, and trim away only the untidy wisps. If the whites feather badly, lower the heat before the next pair; the water is too active.

4. 4

   Fill the tartlets

   Divide the reduced Soubise among the tartlet crusts, about 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 48 g) in each, and smooth it level just below the rim. It should hold its shape rather than creep into the pastry. If it slumps, return it to the pan for another minute of reduction. Don't ask crisp pastry to contain a running sauce.

5. 5

   Coat and place eggs

   Working with one egg at a time, slide it from the slotted spoon onto a broad metal spatula and hold it level above the baking sheet. Coat the egg completely with one quarter of the warm Mornay sauce, then sprinkle it with one quarter of the grated Gruyère. Lower the coated egg into its Soubise-filled crust by means of the spatula, preserving the source's sequence. Repeat with the other eggs. If a little Mornay slides away during the transfer, spoon it back over the exposed white before glazing.

6. 6

   Glaze under broiler

   Slide the tray beneath the fully heated broiler and watch without leaving it. Glaze for 60 to 90 seconds, rotating the tray once if needed, until the Mornay bubbles at the edges and the cheese turns mottled butter-gold. The pastry should remain deep gold, not black. If the color is slow after two minutes, move the tray closer for short bursts rather than leave the eggs baking until their yolks set.

7. 7

   Draw the glaze thread

   Transfer each tartlet to a warm plate with the broad spatula. Using the tip of a teaspoon, surround each crust with a fine, unbroken thread of melted meat-glaze, keeping it around the tartlet rather than pouring it over the Mornay. Serve at once, while the pastry is crisp, the sauce gleams, and the yolk still yields beneath the knife. À table!

Chef Tips

• •A bakery-made tartlet shell is an honest equivalent to having a pâtissier in the brigade, provided it is unsweetened, all-butter, fully baked, and crisp. The pastry itself is not optional; it gives Maintenon its architecture.
• •Use the freshest eggs you can find. A fresh white gathers tightly around its yolk, while an older one trails through the poaching water and leaves you trimming away half the egg.
• •Grate the Gruyère finely so it melts before the yolk cooks through. Coarse strands demand too much time beneath the broiler, and the fierce glazing must remain brief.
• •Meat-glaze is concentrated stock, not gravy or bouillon paste. Keep homemade meat-glaze frozen in teaspoon portions, or buy a good prepared version with no dominant herbs; that dark thread is small, but it gives the rich sauces their necessary savory edge.
• •Serve Œufs pochés Maintenon as a first course with brut Champagne or a taut, dry white wine. It is generous enough that the next course should be simple.

Advance Preparation

• •The timing for this entry begins with the tartlet crusts, Soubise à la Béchamel, Mornay sauce, and meat-glaze already prepared, just as the classical kitchen kept them ready. Make the sauces up to one day ahead, press parchment directly against their surfaces, chill them, and reheat gently.
• •Bake the tartlet crusts up to one day ahead and keep them airtight at room temperature. If they soften, refresh them for 5 minutes in a 350°F (180°C) oven and cool before filling.
• •For a dinner party, poach the eggs up to 4 hours ahead, transfer them directly to ice water, and chill. Rewarm them for 45 seconds in water just below a simmer, then blot, coat, and glaze as directed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 225g)