A short history

In the French tradition, eggs Benedictine consists of a poached egg on a bed of cod brandade—nothing to do with what we see in our restaurants now! The version with the poached egg served on an English muffin with bacon or ham and hollandaise sauce actually came from a man named Lemuel Benedict, a regular at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City, whose morning breakfast request in 1892 was destined to become a classic: eggs Benedict.

How to poach an egg

Cooking poached eggs is very simple, but it requires a little attention. Here’s how to do it in a few easy steps:

1. 1. In a saucepan, add water and heat it until it is simmering. The water must not boil, as the egg will be knocked around.
2. 2. Add about 1 teaspoon of white vinegar to the water. It helps the egg white coagulate around the yolk. The fresher the egg, the easier the white coagulates.
3. 3. Break the egg into a small bowl before adding it to the saucepan to ensure that there are no pieces of shell and that it slips more easily into the water without breaking.
4. 4. Cook the egg for about 2 to 3 minutes. When the white is coagulated, it’s ready.
5. 5. Using a slotted spoon, remove the egg from the pan and drain it on a clean paper towel or cloth.

See how Ricardo poaches an egg here.

The secret is in the hollandaise sauce

Hollandaise sauce is a warm emulsion of egg yolks with an acidic ingredient like vinegar or lemon juice. When the yolks become frothy, butter is added. This rich and creamy sauce coats a poached egg and its toppings perfectly.

Want to vary your eggs Benedict sauce? Make a Béarnaise sauce that consists of a hollandaise sauce with a reduction of shallots and tarragon or a Mornay sauce, a simpler sauce to execute, based on béchamel sauce and cheese.

Vary the toppings

The “official” toppings of eggs Benedict are ham or back bacon placed on an English muffin, but you can vary them as much as you like to customize your eggs.

• Seafood toppings: Nordic shrimp, smoked salmon, lobster, crab
• Vegetarian toppings: vegetable ratatouille, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed spinach, blanched asparagus
• Cheese toppings: Brie cheese slices, aged cheddar shavings, grated mozzarella

The right choice of bread

As you use a knife and fork to cut eggs Benedict, you need a bread that’s not too hard and crispy, such as a crusty bread, and not one that’s too soft and will get soaked in sauce. The traditional English muffin is therefore the ideal choice, but you could also serve your eggs on a bagel, waffle or even potato röstis.