verb · neutral
poach
UK/pəʊtʃ/US/poʊtʃ/POACH
Band 7+speakingtask2
to cook food gently in simmering liquid; also to take animals or fish illegally
Examples
“She poached an egg for her brunch.”
“Local farmers accused outsiders of poaching deer on their land.”
“To keep the fish tender, poach it gently in court-bouillon.”
Band 8 sentence
“To preserve its delicate texture, the restaurant poaches the salmon in a lightly seasoned court-bouillon rather than subjecting it to high heat.”
Collocations
- poach an egg
- poach fish/pear
- poach illegally
Word family
poach verbpoached adjective / past participlepoaching noun / verb-ing
Common mistakes
steal→poach
I poached an egg yesterdayed→I poached an egg yesterday
Say it for a higher band
5cook→6boil→7+poach
Synonyms
boil
Easily confused
steal
“The chef prefers to poach salmon rather than fry it.”
Related words
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In Food & Cooking
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