Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict makes a great American breakfast, well suited for an active day start, packing almost 600 cals each!
Though poaching eggs and making hollandaise sauce seems a daunting task for a lazy morning, this eggs can get quite simple to cook perfectly every time – just follow the classic recipe below and learn to make them perfect with the Tips & Tricks section at the recipe end.
Eggs Benedict Recipe
Eggs Benedict Recipe | Perfectly poached eggs over crisp bacon, on top of toasted english muffins, covered in delicious hollandaise sauce! |
Eggs Benedict Recipe Tags & Times
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
Eggs Benedict Recipe Ingredients
- 4 Eggs free range, *very* fresh
- 5 g Vinegar 5 g = 1 tsp
- 100 g Bacon Canadian in best
- 2 English muffin about 55 g each
- 10 g Butter
- 4 Egg yolk
- 140 g Unsalted butter
- 15 g Lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 g Table salt
- 1 g Cayenne Pepper
Eggs Benedict Recipe Instructions
- Melt the butter for 10-20 seconds in the microwave or on stovetop in a metallic bowl and set aside
- For the hollandaise sauce we'll need a double boiler, or just a stainless mixing bowl that fits over a saucepan with water without touching the water surface
- Put some water in the saucepan and bring it to simmer, then place the stainless mixing bowl over the saucepan
- Put the egg yolks and the lemon juice in the bowl and mix them until well blended, then continue to whisk vigorously until the mixture thickens, increase in volume and starts creating ribbons when lifting the whisk (4 to 6 minutes)
- Slowly whisk in the melted butter a little at a time until the sauce get glossy and even thicken; stop when the hollandaise gets thick enough, even if not all butter has been added
- Remove the stainless bowl from heat, cover and set aside
- Slice the bacon into two medium size slices if it is not sliced already
- Heat the butter in a nonstick skillet on medium heat
- Add the bacon slices and cook until lightly browned
- In the meantime toast the muffins lightly and place them on serving plates
- Top each muffin with a cooked bacon slice and cover the plates with small bowls to keep the muffins and bacon slices warm
- Bring to simmer enough water and 1 tablespoon vinegar in a large nonstick skillet *without boiling*
- Break each egg into a separate small bowl and slip them gently in the hot water, one at a time
- Nudge the whites carefully towards their yolks with a spoon while poaching
- Poaching will take 3 - 4 minutes, depending the size of the eggs and the water temperature
- When the whites are *barely firm* and the yolks are still soft and runny inside transfer each egg on a plate lined with paper towel using a slotted spoon (if the yolk is not covered with egg white like in the pictures just flip the poached egg upside down!)
- Carefully transfer each poached egg over a bacon-topped english muffin
- Top with hollandaise sauce, sprinkle some chopped parsley and thyme and serve right away!
Eggs Benedict Recipe Tips & Tricks
The hollandaise sauce is pretty easy to make without any risk if the temperature is low enough while whisking. If the sauce starts to look grainy immediately add a small amount (half a teaspoon) of cold water and whisk vigorously. Use a butter with high fat content, or better use clarified butter instead (which is basically pure butter fat).
If you're in a hurry you could try the blender hollandaise method :-)
The poached eggs are also simply to master with these simple tricks:
1. Use very fresh free range eggs - these are holding together well
2. Flip over the poached egg while taking it out of the water ;-)
3. Stir the water just before slipping the egg in, and place the egg in the middle of the swirl
This assumes that you'll poach eggs one at a time but there is a catch here too: the eggs can be poached in advance and stored in the fridge, in cold water! Just put them for 1 minute in simmering water the next morning and you're done!
The bacon can also be cooked in advance and microwaved on high for 30 seconds - or use smoked salmon, see below - and the hollandaise can stay in a jar for a couple of days too - this way you can have like 10 poached eggs in 10 minutes, and everyone around will say WHAAAT!?? :-D
There are lots of variations to the Eggs Benedict as any part of it can be replaced: just change the hollandaise sauce with a bechamel and make Eggs Blanchard instead, or replace the bacon with smoked salmon and get Eggs Hemingway, like in this recipe enhanced even more with croissants instead of english muffins!
