Easy Eggs Benedict Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of Eggs Benedict? ›

That's One Eggs-ellent Benedict

The cornerstone of the dish is the Hollandaise, a rich and creamy sauce made from eggs, butter, and lemon juice. Add eggs on top of English muffins, and meat or fish and cover it all with Hollandaise for the best breakfast in town.

Eggs Benedict is a brunch specialty consisting of hot buttered English muffins, Canadian-style bacon, and poached eggs topped with a rich homemade Hollandaise sauce. Wonderful for Easter, Mother's Day, or anytime you want to treat yourself to the best brunch in the world!

You have to have warm, crispy bacon, hot buttered toasted English muffins, eggs poached perfectly to your desire, and a warm, creamy, unbroken hollandaise sauce, all at about the same time.

Hollandaise sauce (/hɒlənˈdeɪz/ or /ˈhɒləndeɪz/; French: [ɔlɑ̃dɛz]), meaning Dutch sauce in French, is a mixture of egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice (or a white wine or vinegar reduction). It is usually seasoned with salt, and either white pepper or cayenne pepper.

Eggs Benedict is with ham or pancetta. Eggs Florentine is with sauteed spinach. Eggs royale is with smoked salmon. All three breakfasts are created the same, starting with a toasted English muffin, poached eggs and topped with hollandaise sauce.

Sainsbury's Hollandaise Sauce, Inspired to Cook 125g (Serves 2)

Retired Wall Street stock broker Lemuel Benedict told The New Yorker in 1942 that he ordered the first Eggs Benedict in the Waldorf-Astoria in 1894 to help his hangover. His order consisted of buttered toast, bacon, poached eggs, and Hollandaise sauce.

It's what happens next that sets them apart: Hollandaise gets its acidity from lemon juice (sometimes vinegar) and is usually seasoned with salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper. Béarnaise, meanwhile, builds upon hollandaise with white wine vinegar, shallots, tarragon, and other fresh herbs.

"But there are a lot of ways things can go wrong. If you don't whisk fast enough or pour in your butter too fast it'll turn greasy and broken. Don't cook the eggs enough and it won't thicken properly. If you cook the eggs too much and you'll end up with clumpy, greasy, scrambled eggs.

What is a common mistake with hollandaise sauce? ›

Hollandaise Sauce

One common hollandaise mistake is overcooking the egg yolks, and there's no coming back from that. But the most common problem is that the emulsion breaks, and you see streaks of liquid butter instead of a uniformly creamy sauce.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks, lemon juice, cold water, salt and pepper. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Gradually whisk yolk mixture into butter. Continue whisking over low heat for 8 minutes, or until sauce is thickened.

The five mother sauces are hollandaise, tomato (sauce tomat), bechamel, Espagnole, and veloute. French chef Auguste Escoffier identified the five mother sauces, forever associating them with French cuisine.

Supposedly, Delmonico's created the dish for Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand Benedict in the 1860s when they requested something new and not on the menu. One of Delmonico's former chefs also published a recipe named eggs à la Benedick in 1894.

It tastes rich, lemony buttery, and creamy (all thanks to the Hollandaise sauce it is topped with), and it is also quite easy to cook, making it an ideal dish for those who have busy mornings. It is certainly among the most classic menu items in every restaurant today.

It's similar to a poached egg. The difference between a coddled egg and a poached egg is that a poached egg is made by cooking the egg directly in the cooking liquid, whereas a coddled egg is cooked in a small dish (usually a small ramekin) instead.

Poached eggs are eggs that you crack, put into boiling water and leave to cook. Poached eggs are used in dishes such as Eggs Benedict, which is an egg on a slice of ham on an English muffin and topped with Hollandaise sauce, and eggs Florentine, which is the same dish that just substitutes spinach for ham.