KITCHEN PRACTICE 3 — Poached Egg with Hollandaise
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Chapter: French Cookery 8 — Egg Techniques

TASK
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Build a full poached egg with hollandaise, reusing Chapter 5's own
sauce, on toasted bread with a slice of ham.

WHAT TO DO
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1. Make a batch of hollandaise following Chapter 5's method — yolks
   whisked over gentle indirect heat, melted butter added a few
   drops at a time at first, finished with lemon juice and seasoning.
2. Toast a slice of bread (an English muffin half is the classic
   choice) and warm a slice of ham in a pan.
3. Poach an egg using this chapter's own method — fresh egg, water
   just below a simmer, a splash of vinegar, cracked into a cup and
   slid in gently, cooked about 3 minutes for a runny yolk.
4. Assemble: toast on the plate, ham on top of the toast, the
   poached egg on top of the ham.
5. Spoon a generous amount of hollandaise over the top and serve
   immediately.

WHAT TO EXPECT
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- The poached egg's yolk should run when cut into, mixing with the
  hollandaise to create an even richer sauce over the toast and ham.
- The hollandaise should still be warm and glossy when served — it
  doesn't hold well for long once made, so timing the toast, ham,
  and egg to all finish close together matters here.
- The finished dish should taste balanced — the hollandaise's
  richness and acidity, the ham's saltiness, and the egg's own soft
  richness, none of them overwhelming the others.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This exercise is a genuine payoff of two separate chapters working
together — Chapter 5's hollandaise finally finding its most classic
real-world use, and this chapter's poaching technique delivering the
egg it's served on. Timing all three components (toast, ham, egg) to
land together is also a small, realistic lesson in its own right:
a technically perfect hollandaise or poached egg made five minutes
too early still won't make for a great finished plate.