Eggs Benedict Recipe
This classic Eggs Benedict Recipe with English muffins, poached eggs, Canadian bacon, and hollandaise sauce is the perfect elegant breakfast.
Ingredients
For the Hollandaise:
- 4 egg yolks
- juice of ½ lemon
- ¼ cup chardonnay wine
- 4-6 ounces clarified butter
- coarse salt and cayenne to taste
For the Eggs benedict:
- 8 eggs
- 8 toasted English muffin halves
- 8 slices Canadian bacon, heated
- chopped fresh parsley and chives for garnish, optional
- coarse salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Hollandaise:
- Whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and wine in a large metal bowl until it becomes frothy, about 2 minutes.
- Add the bowl to a double boiler over low to medium heat and whisk vigorously until it is very foamy and no egg liquid at the bottom of the bowl. This takes 3 to 4 minutes.
- Whisk while slowly drizzling in the clarified butter until it is completely emulsified. Remove from the double boiler, season with salt and cayenne, and set it aside.
Poached Eggs:
- Add some vinegar to a medium-size pot with water and simmer over low to medium heat.
- Stir the water using a spoon for 10 seconds to create a vortex. Add 1 egg to the center of it so the whites of the egg wrap around the yolk. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked but the yolk is runny.
- Remove the egg and season with salt and pepper. Repeat 7 more times with the rest of the eggs. You can also follow my poached egg recipe for multiple eggs at once.
- Place the toasted English muffin halves on a plate and layer on with the Canadian bacon, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and garnish of cayenne.
Notes
If there is one thing I would tell you about this plate, it is that the hollandaise is the whole recipe, and the hollandaise lives or dies on temperature control over the double boiler. I keep the water at a bare simmer, never a boil, and I treat the bowl like a sauteuse, lifting it off the heat the second the eggs start to grab at the bottom. The other home-cook miss I see all the time is pouring the clarified butter in too fast at the start. The first ounce in is the most fragile moment of the whole sauce, and a heavy hand right there is what splits the hollandaise before you have even finished pouring. I drizzle the first ounce in slowly, get the emulsion locked in, then I can move a little faster on the back end.
Save the milk solids: When I clarify the butter, I scoop the white foam off the top, but I keep it. I melt it over popcorn or fold it into homemade breakfast sausage. There is too much flavor in there to throw away.
Use the vortex for one egg at a time: I stir the simmering water hard to make a vortex, drop one egg into the center, and the whites wrap themselves around the yolk. For a crowd, my poached eggs post shows the basket method and the small-cup pre-crack method that scale better.
Hold the hollandaise warm, not hot: I park the finished sauce in a thick ceramic or stoneware bowl, covered, off the heat. It will hold for about 30 minutes that way. Direct heat or a hot water bath will start to scramble it.
Finish with fresh herbs: A pinch of minced parsley, chives, or both on top of the hollandaise sharpens the plate and makes the yellow pop.
Make-Ahead: I do not make this plate ahead. The eggs need to be eaten the second they come out of the water, and the hollandaise is at its best within the first 30 minutes. I prep my mise en place, get the muffins toasted, and start the hollandaise right before service.
How to Store: I keep the components separate, covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days. Hollandaise in a small container, Canadian bacon in another, and toasted muffins in a bag once they have cooled. The assembled plate does not store well.
How to Reheat: I reheat the hollandaise in a metal bowl over a double boiler while whisking hard, then I re-poach a fresh egg in simmering water for 1 to 2 minutes and re-toast the muffin in the oven.
How to Freeze: I do not freeze this one.
Nutrition
Calories: 802kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 35gFat: 47gSaturated Fat: 24gCholesterol: 624mgSodium: 1179mgPotassium: 497mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 735IUCalcium: 136mgIron: 3mg