If you’re looking to impress people with a quick, sexy brunch, this is your best option. A soft-yet-crisp, toasted English muffin, salty ham, a visually satisfying and shapely poached egg, all drowned in a sinfully-buttery-yet-still-somehow-refreshingly-light & zesty hollandaise sauce. Eggs Benedict is epic. It’s slick, smooth, and buttoned-up… and it’s downright delicious.
Contrary to public opinion, it also happens to be really easy to make… too easy perhaps…
You know how to toast an English muffin, you know how to slap a piece of ham on top of it. Where this dish (potentially) gets tricky is with the sauce and the poached eggs. There exists horror stories of mangled poached eggs gone wrong and seized-up hollandaise sauces, but… If you use the methods described in this recipe, failure is practically impossible.
We’ll start with the poached egg. As mentioned before, the perfect poached egg is neat and shapely with a nice gooey yolk in the center. In case you didn’t know, a poached egg is simply an egg that has been gently cooked in simmering water. Sounds easy enough, right? If you crack an egg directly into simmering water, you will find that the egg-whites form into some strange, octopus membrane looking thing. Bad. The solution? Know your egg. Crack one onto a plate and take a look at it. At first glance, you see egg yolk and egg white… simple… obvious. Try peering a little closer at that egg white… notice anything? Surrounding the yolk is a more structured, shapely portion of egg-white. Surrounding that, is a much looser, out-of-control portion of egg white that should be spilling all over the plate. Structured & shapely are desirable qualities, and out-of-control is not. Taking this observation into account, the solution is obvious: strain off the outer, loose egg white so that you are left with only the inner white. It is as easy as cracking your eggs into a fine mesh strainer and swirling them around a bit. If you are really keen on zero-waste, collect this strained egg white for another use. Once strained, it’s as easy as plopping the eggs into a vessel of simmering water. Just stir every once and a while to ensure even cooking. You could easily get fixated on cooking times, but I just like to gauge doneness by occasionally poking the eggs. Once the white is set completely and the yolk is nice and gooey, you are good to go.
Next up, the hollandaise. What is it? Essentially, it’s mayonnaise made with butter instead of oil. Blah, blah, blah, emulsify, emulsify, emulsify. I feel like I mention this technique in every post I write, but it is oh so important in this recipe.
The goal is to make a stable, creamy, emulsion of butter, egg yolk, and lemon juice (and a little water). We’re not going to pretend that we are French master chefs that rigorously whisk together our emulsions… No, it’s 2019… It’s time to bust out your blender. Here’s how it goes: drop your egg yolks into the blender, squeeze in some lemon juice, add some water, salt, and whatever other seasonings you’d like… THEN, pour in hot, melted butter a little at a time and blend away. Ideally, your blender will have an opening on the lid; this way, you can pour and blend at the same time to ensure a steady + even introduction of butter (I had to get creative - see pictures below). You definitely don’t want to pour all the butter in at once because you will coagulate the egg yolks with the sudden, overwhelming introduction of the way-too-hot-to-handle molten butter. The trick is to temper the egg yolks by adding a little butter at a time + blending incrementally. This way, you gradually raise the temperature of the eggs while also creating a stable, smooth emulsion of gently-coddled egg proteins and butter. That’s good stuff.
As always, feel free to flex your creative muscles. You could literally toss anything into that blender and it will lend some of its flavor to the sauce. I cannot guarantee would you decide to put in will taste good, but it is paramount that you know the limitless possibilities of your creative potential. For me, and for the purpose of this recipe, I am going to keep it simple and classic. I’ll add in a little diced shallot just to introduce some nuanced complexity, but the foundational, lemony, buttery flavor of hollandaise will shine through above all else.
Now that your a master, it is time to execute. Please, go ahead and make this. Impress yourself. Impress everyone and everything you serve this too. All sentient beings enjoy eggs Benedict.
Ingredients
Serves 4
4 English muffins
4 slices of quality ham / bacon / any salty meat
4 eggs for poaching
For the sauce
2 egg yolks
Juice of 1/4 lemon (~1.5 tablespoons)
a pinch salt
2 tablespoons water
3/4 stick of butter
1/4 teaspoon of minced shallot (optional)
a pinch of white pepper (optional)
Method
Bring a shallow pot of salted water to a simmer
Crack your eggs into a fine mesh strainer. Swirl around to drain off the runny portion of the egg white and drop into the simmering water.
Mix water occasionally. Lift eggs with a slotted spoon and poke to check doneness. Eggs are ready once white is completely set and the yolk portion feels gooey - about 2 minutes. Place cooked eggs on paper towel to let dry.
To make hollandaise:
Heat butter until completely melted. Yes, you can use a microwave.
Add all other ingredients to a blender. Pulse briefly to mix.
Drip in your butter slowly. If your blender has an opening in the cover, it is best to do this while the blades are spinning. Otherwise, just carefully pour and blend incrementally. You can also use a hand blender for this. Add water/lemon juice to adjust consistency/acidity. Season to taste.
Toast English muffin
Heat up ham
Assemble. Stack ham on english muffin, egg on ham, and sauce on egg. Or… eff it. Stack it in whatever configuration you like. It’s 2019.
My favorite way to serve these is family-style on a big, nice-lookin’ tray or cutting board. This way, when you place the benny on the table, it will send a shock-wave of pure excitement and impressiveness that will ignite the spirits of everyone sitting there and awaiting their meal. Then, you can sit back and enjoy watching them frantically grab and fight for the little towers of decadence. Beautiful.
Make sure to grab one for yourself before the carnage ensues. Eat and enjoy.
