Accentuate the essence of ingredients and lock in flavour and nutrients with a cooking method that yields beautifully light, low-fat, summery meals.

Food is poached by gentle simmering in a poaching liquid, such as water, stock, milk or red or white wine.

Poaching is particularly well suited to foods that easily dry out or fall apart when cooking - think eggs, poultry, fish and fruit. To learn how to poach stone fruit, visit our How To section.

Low and quick are the key words - keep the temperature just below boiling point and the cooking time brief. This will also preserve the flavour of the food, locking in the nutrients and making it more easily digestible.

Shallow poaching is where foods are cooked in the minimum amount of poaching liquid, and the liquid kept at a temperature is close to boiling point as possible (but never allowed to boil).

Deep poaching is where foods are submerged in just enough water to cover them and then cooked - eggs, for instance, should be poached in around 8 cm of water, brought to the boil and then simmered; poultry or fish on the bone are cooked gently in simmering liquid.