How to hold and then poach egg yolks? I've been working on this riff on an Asian noodle soup. As the final garnish, I want to drop an egg yolk in the middle of the individual serving bowls of soup, to warm for a couple of minutes in the boiling hot soup and to burst with the first stir. Sounds simple, right? It's giving me a problem though.

I use the whites in the soup. I need to separate the eggs at least about 10 minutes before I drop the yolks. Separated yolks are really touchy, they want to break before their time. That they are at room temperature (for reasons that should be fairly obvious) doesn't help. I've been holding the yolks in little custard cups. I've tried putting a little water (hot and cool) in the cups, I've also tried broth from the soup. Even doing those things, the yolks break as I try (ever so gently) to drop them onto the soup.

Any ideas?
I do this all the time, I simply leave the yolk in the shell, then I use the shell to gently place the yolk into the spot I like. Dipping the shell into the broth and then letting the yolk float out will keep it together. 

You could try heating the yolk in the shell by putting it in a hot water bath, seems a bit overkill to be honest. Chilling it also may help keep it together but then it won't cook the way you want in the residual heat. Room temperature is your best bet.