Coddling

Coddling cooks food, usually eggs today though historically also fruit, by heating it in water held just below the boiling point. Unlike poaching, the coddled ingredient is not placed directly into the hot water but set in a small dish inside a hot water bath, done either on the stovetop, in the oven, or in a dedicated device called an egg coddler, originally known as a pipkin. Compared to boiling a whole egg, coddling takes longer because of its lower temperature but produces a more tender result; the word itself descends from caudle, the name of a warm drink, ultimately from the Latin calidum, meaning a warm drink.