I stumbled upon this website while checking out scrambled eggs using a crockpot. I was amazed by the question on another thread: why do my eggs turn green?

Then: Pasteurized eggs! What? I was further amazed by Ellen's response: "It really is not safe to serve unpasteurized, undercooked eggs."

So, that probably cuts out one of the classic egg dishes known - poached eggs. With good butter and real bread. And what about scrambled eggs - wonderfully creamy and a joy to prepare.

Recipe for poached eggs: Deep, stainless-steel
pot, with thick alloy base. Stainless-steel, flat, slotted lifter.

Cold, clean water, bring to low simmer. Add fresh - or dry - bay leaves, some sea salt crystals. Or a dash of white-wine vinegar.(This bit is important in order to congeal the white of the egg. I prefer salt.) Some freshly ground black pepper. Simmer. Low.

Prepare slices of good bread - an honest sour-dough is good, ready for the pre-warmed toaster.

Eggs should be at room temperature, that is - not chilled. (Fresh eggs last for, at the most, about a week. Depending on climate. Everything else is a nonsense and, although probably "safe", why bother? An egg is an egg.

There is no such thing as a long-life egg, unless it is hard-boiled and pickled. In brine.

OK. Now. Swirl the simmering water to form a whirlpool - that is, spin the water ... then quickly break the eggs on the side of the pan using one hand and drop them - gently - into the water. Use the slotted lifter to - gently - swirl the water with its cargo of eggs. A gentle process. With practice, all this becomes automatic. This process takes about three to four minutes.

Meanwhile, you have warmed the toaster and pre-warmed the bread. Now toast the bread.

All up, about 10 minutes for classic poached eggs!

Serve with lashings of good butter and freshly ground black pepper. Maybe a garnish of fresh chives. Or basil leaves.

LESSON: Treat eggs gently. (In Australia,we have an enormous range of eggs - from the "caged" variety to the "free-range" variety. As far as I know, we don't have a "pasteurized" variety. I would run a mile from them ...

This is different from an egg that gets "dirty" in the process of gathering.

Unless an egg is held at 145 for many minutes or 165 for fewer, the salmonella, if present, is not killed. That liability is why restaurants can't/won't serve poached, soft-boiled and other yummy eggs. Many restaurants have switched to pre-mixed pasteurized and frozen egg slurries for their scrambled eggs for the same reason. Commercially pasteurized eggs are whole in-shell eggs treated using a special 145 degree process which kills any germs without cooking the egg protein, allowing the eggs to be reliably and safely soft-cooked and served soft (my favorite is poached, also), or any other way.

Unless I know the flock the eggs are coming from, I only soft-cook pasteurized eggs.