The classic American brunch: toasted English muffins, Canadian bacon, poached eggs and homemade hollandaise sauce whisked over a double boiler.
Some mornings, brunch lasts until noon, and there’s one plate you look forward to more than any other. The tip of the knife pierces the poached egg, and the warm yolk runs over the slice of bacon and mingles with the still-glossy hollandaise.
Underneath, the toasted muffin crunches, then soaks up the sauce in its nooks and crannies. The lemon and the pinch of cayenne pepper wake up the butter, and the first bite immediately calls for a second.
What Is Eggs Benedict?
Eggs Benedict is the great brunch classic of American cuisine. Each toasted English muffin half is topped with a round slice of Canadian bacon, a poached egg, then a spoonful of hollandaise sauce, and each plate gets two halves. Hollandaise is an emulsion of egg yolks and melted butter, seasoned with lemon juice, salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper. With spinach in place of the bacon, the dish becomes eggs Florentine; with smoked salmon, eggs Royale.
The name comes from a New York customer named Benedict, but two stories disagree on who that customer was. In France, the name is usually kept as is, and in Quebec, the dish is called œufs bénédictine.
Delmonico’s or the Waldorf: Two New York Stories
The first story is set at Delmonico’s in the 1860s. A regular, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, grew tired of the menu and asked for a new dish for lunch. Chef Charles Ranhofer served her poached eggs and ham on toasted muffins, topped with hollandaise, and published the recipe in 1894 in his book The Epicurean, under the name “Eggs à la Benedick.”
The second story comes from broker Lemuel Benedict. In 1942, he told The New Yorker that one morning in 1894 he had walked into the Waldorf, nursing a hangover, and ordered buttered toast, poached eggs, crispy bacon and hollandaise. Headwaiter Oscar Tschirky is said to have put the dish on the menu, made with an English muffin and ham. No one has ever settled the question, and the assembly hasn’t changed since.
The Main Ingredients for Eggs Benedict
An English muffin is a small, round yeast roll cooked on a griddle. Split and toasted, it stays firm under the egg and holds the sauce in its air pockets. The recipe calls for whole wheat muffins, but plain ones work too; in Germany, Toastbrötchen do the job very well, and elsewhere, toasted brioche rolls.
Canadian bacon, or back bacon, is lean pork loin, cured and sometimes smoked, cut into round slices. Its texture is closer to ham than to pork belly. If you can’t find it, cooked ham sliced 3 to 5 mm thick makes a good substitute. Diced bacon, on the other hand, doesn’t work: the egg slides right off it.
The 8 eggs for poaching should be very cold, and a splash of vinegar in the water helps the whites set faster. The hollandaise calls for 3 yolks, 115 g of butter, lemon juice, salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper or dry mustard. The lecithin in the yolks binds the butter to the lemon juice. The cayenne goes into the sauce: nothing is sprinkled on top.
Technique Tips for Getting Eggs Benedict Right
The poaching water should barely simmer. Crack each egg into a small cup, then slide it into the water without swirling, which lets you poach several at once. With large eggs, 3 minutes gives you a runny yolk. Draining them briefly on paper towels keeps the muffin from getting soggy.
For the hollandaise, the bottom of the bowl shouldn’t touch the water in the double boiler. Whisk the yolks until they turn pale and thicken, then pour in the melted butter in a thin stream, off the heat. If the sauce breaks, you can rescue it with a fresh yolk or a tablespoon of water in a small bowl, whisking the sauce into it a little at a time.
If you’re serving brunch for four, you can poach the eggs up to two days ahead: cook them for 90 to 100 seconds, chill them in an ice bath, then keep them in cold water in the fridge. When it’s time to serve, 30 to 60 seconds in simmering water warms them back up. Assemble the plates at the last minute, while the sauce is still glossy, with American cinnamon rolls on the table. The 3 leftover egg whites keep for a few days in the fridge, or you can freeze them.
Ingredients
Hollandaise Sauce
- 150 g butter
- 4 egg yolks
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or dry mustard
- 1 pinch salt
Poached Eggs
- 8 eggs, well chilled
- Water
- 1 dash vinegar
Muffins and Bacon
- 4 English muffins whole wheat
- 8 slices lean back bacon (Canadian bacon)
Instructions
Hollandaise Sauce
- Melt the butter.150 g butter
- In a glass or stainless steel bowl, whisk the egg yolks until frothy.4 egg yolks
- Add the lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt while whisking.1.5 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 pinch cayenne pepper,, 1 pinch salt
- Pour about 4 cm of water into a saucepan.Water
- Bring the water to a simmer.
- Set the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.
- Heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture turns pale yellow, thickens slightly and increases in volume.
- Remove the bowl from the heat.
- Pour in the melted butter in a thin stream, a little at a time, whisking constantly, until the sauce is smooth and thick.
- Keep the sauce warm while you cook the eggs.
Poached Eggs
- Fill a saucepan with about 8 cm of water.
- Add the vinegar.1 dash vinegar
- Heat until the water is gently simmering.
- Crack a cold egg into a small cup or saucer.8 eggs,
- Hold the cup just above the simmering water.
- Gently slide the egg into the water.
- Repeat with the remaining eggs.
- Cook in barely simmering water for 3 to 5 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking: 3 minutes for a runny yolk with large eggs.
- Lift out the eggs with a slotted spoon.
- Drain them thoroughly on paper towels.
Muffins and Bacon
- While the eggs are cooking, split the English muffins in half.4 English muffins
- Toast the muffin halves.
Assembly
- Place the 8 toasted muffin halves on the plates, cut side up.
- Top each half with a slice of back bacon.8 slices lean back bacon
- Place a poached egg on the bacon.
- Spoon about 2 tablespoons of hollandaise sauce over each egg.
- Serve immediately.
