Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is a common American breakfast or brunch dish, consisting of two halves of an English muffin, each topped with Canadian bacon,[1] a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. It was popularized in New York City.

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict with bacon, topped with a minute amount of sprouts. Sliced cherry tomatoes are on the side of the plate.
CourseBreakfast, brunch
Place of originNew York City, United States
Main ingredientsEnglish muffin, Canadian bacon, Eggs, Hollandaise sauce
VariationsMultiple

Origin and history

There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of eggs Benedict.

Delmonico's in Lower Manhattan says on its menu that "Eggs Benedict was first created in our ovens in 1860."[2] One of its former chefs, Charles Ranhofer, also published the recipe for Eggs à la Benedick in 1894.[3]

In an interview recorded in the "Talk of the Town" column of The New Yorker in 1942, the year before his death,[4] Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, said that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered "buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon, and a hooker of hollandaise". Oscar Tschirky, the maître d'hôtel, was so impressed with the dish that he put it on the breakfast and luncheon menus but substituted ham for the bacon and a toasted English muffin for the toast.[5]

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, also known as Eggs Royale

A later claim to the creation of eggs Benedict was circuitously made by Edward P. Montgomery on behalf of Commodore E. C. Benedict. In 1967 Montgomery wrote a letter to then The New York Times food columnist Craig Claiborne which included a recipe he said he had received through his uncle, a friend of the commodore. Commodore Benedict's recipe—by way of Montgomery—varies greatly from Ranhofer's version, particularly in the hollandaise sauce preparation—calling for the addition of a "hot, hard-cooked egg and ham mixture".[6]

Variations
Eggs Benedict with bacon, with paprika sprinkled on top

Several variations of Eggs Benedict exist:

  • Eggs Blackstone adds streaky bacon and a tomato slice.[7]
  • Eggs Blanchard substitutes Béchamel sauce for Hollandaise.[8]
  • Eggs Florentine adds spinach, sometimes substituted for the Canadian bacon.[9] Older versions of eggs Florentine add spinach to poached or shirred eggs.
  • Eggs Chesapeake adds a Maryland blue crab cake.[10]
  • Eggs Mornay substitutes Mornay (cheese) sauce for the Hollandaise.[11]
  • Eggs Trivette adds Creole mustard to the Hollandaise and a topping of crayfish.[12]
  • Eggs Omar (also known as a steak benedict) adds a small steak, and sometimes replaces the hollandaise with béarnaise.
  • Eggs Atlantic, Eggs Hemingway,[13] or eggs Norvégienne (also known as eggs royale and eggs Montreal in New Zealand) adds salmon, which may be smoked. This is a common variation found in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, and in Kosher restaurants.[14] This is also known as "eggs Benjamin" in some restaurants in Canada.[15]
  • Huevos Benedictos adds sliced avocado and/or Mexican chorizo, and is topped with both a salsa (such as salsa roja or salsa brava) and hollandaise sauce.[16]
  • Eggs Hussarde substitutes Holland rusks for the English muffin and adds Bordelaise sauce.[17][18]
  • Irish Benedict adds corned beef or Irish bacon.[19]
  • Eggs Cochon, a variation from New Orleans restaurants which adds pork "debris" (slow roasted pork shredded in its own juices) and replaces the English muffin with a large buttermilk biscuit.[20][21]
  • California Eggs Benedict adds sliced Hass avocado. Variations include sliced tomato instead of ham.
  • Avocado Toast Eggs Benedict substitutes toast for the muffin and adds sliced avocado.
  • New Jersey Benedict adds Taylor pork roll.
  • Eggs Woodhouse includes two eggs and artichoke hearts, creamed spinach, bechamel sauce, Ibérico ham, black truffle and beluga caviar. The recipe is featured in the book How To Archer, inspired by the television series Archer on FXX.
  • Eggs Zenedict, a specialty of restaurants in the defunct Canadian retail chain Zellers. Poached eggs on a toasted scone with peameal bacon, smothered in a sundried tomato Hollandaise sauce.[22]
  • Eggs Hebridean, a Scottish variety include eggs Hebridean, substituting black pudding for the Canadian bacon or ham, and eggs Balmoral where haggis is used.

See also

References
  1. Ash, John. "Classic Eggs Benedict". Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  2. "Delmonico's Menu". Delmonico's Restaurant. Archived from the original on 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  3. "The epicurean—A complete treatise of analytical and practical studies on the culinary art, including table and wine service, how to prepare and cook dishes, etc., and a selection of interesting bills of fare of Delmonico's from 1862 to 1894". The Internet Archive. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  4. Benedict, Cutts. "Eggs Benedict New York: Feedback". Archived from the original on December 1, 1998. Retrieved February 23, 2007.
  5. "Talk of the Town". The New Yorker. December 19, 1942. Notes: This hasn't been verified at the source, but is instead taken from the letter to Karpf by Cutts Benedict and the page of J. J. Schnebel.
  6. Claiborne, Craig (September 9, 1967). "American Classic: Eggs Benedict". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  7. Rombauer, Irma S.; Marion Rombauer Becker (1995) [1975]. "Egg Dishes". The Joy of Cooking. Illustrated by Ginnie Hofmann and Ikki Matsumoto (1st Scribner Edition 1995 ed.). New York, New York: Scribner. p. 222. ISBN 0-02-604570-2. Notes: Title of recipe is poached eggs Blackstone. Uses fried slice of flour dipped tomato, minced bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise. No bread for base.
  8. Hirtzler, Victor (1988). The 1910 Hotel St. Francis cook book (1st ed.). Sausalito, Calif.: Windgate Press. ISBN 978-0915269068.
  9. "Rich mix of patrons makes Moto's special". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. December 18, 1986. pp. A/6. "eggs Florentine ($3.95), eggs poached and topped with Hollandaise sauce, served on spinach and English muffin" Notes: Not directly verified. Viewed through Google News Archive snippet view.
  10. The Editors of Saveur Magazine (28 October 2014). SAVEUR: The New Classics Cookbook: 1,000 Recipes + Expert Advice, Tips, and. Weldon Owen. p. 461. ISBN 978-1616287351. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  11. Claiborne, Craig (May 26, 1960). "Maligned Vegetable Has Loyal Fans". The New York Times. p. 28.
  12. Thomson, Julie R. "17 Twists On The Classic Eggs Benedict Recipe".
  13. "Eggs Hemingway (or eggs Atlantic) with smoked salmon | Shelf5". Shelf5. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  14. "Eggs Hemingway". Instructables. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  15. "Eggs Benjamin breakfast - Picture of Symposium Cafe Restaurant & Lounge, Markham - TripAdvisor". www.tripadvisor.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  16. "Huevos Benedictos". Instructables.
  17. DeMers, John (1998). Food of New Orleans: Authentic Recipes from the Big Easy. Food photography by John Hay (1st ed.). Boston: Periplus Editions. p. 44. ISBN 962-593-227-5.
  18. "Recipes – Eggs Hussarde". Brennan's Restaurant. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2016. Notes: Located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  19. Townsend, Elisabeth (July 24, 2005). "Dining Out". The Boston Globe. "Irish Benedict ($7.50): two poached Eggs and corned beef hash on an English muffin covered with hollandaise sauce" Notes: Not directly verified. Viewed through Google News Archive snippet view.
  20. "Eggs Cochon du Lait" Eat Your World
  21. "Five places for great cochon du lait" Gambit
  22. "Zellers Diner". Zellers Diner food pages.
  • Who Cooked That Up? page on origin of the dish with a recipe
  • “Was He the Eggman?” An account in The New York Times about Lemuel Benedict and the efforts of Jack Benedict, the son of Lemuel's first cousin, to promote Lemuel's story. Article includes link to an audio slide show.
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