It’s Eggs Benedict Day! My favorite day of the year.
Okay, so it’s my 48th favorite day of the year. But who’s counting?
I first posted Eggs Benedict here back in 2007. Here’s that post if you’d like to reminisce or see some additional tips:
Eggs Benedict
For the purposes of my new cookbook, I remade and reshot the dish
last summer. Here’s an updated tutorial, including a variation at the
end.
Happy Hollandaise, everyone!
First, poach the eggs: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a small splash of vinegar. Then you can crack the egg right on in…
Or,
what I prefer to do, you can crack eggs into individual ramekins, and
carefully pour them in one by one. This decreases the likelihood that
the yolk will break and also keeps the eggs all together a little
better.
Also: On the water, I take the approach my mom always took, which was
to use a spoon to swirl the water into a cyclone right before adding in
the eggs. This is considered a little unconventional, though, so if you
like to do things by the book you can skip that step.
When the eggs are cooked (but yolks are still soft) remove them with a
slotted spoon, dab the underside of the spoon on a kitchen towel to get
rid of the excess water, and place the eggs on a plate.
Next up, add egg yolks to a blender. Pulse it a sec to blend them up.
Then,
with the blender on, slowly pour in 2 sticks of hot melted butter in a
steady stream. As it blends, the sauce will start to thicken and become
magical.
Squeeze in the juice of a lemon and blend it well.
This is everything. This is life.
Sprinkle in a little cayenne pepper. You’d miss it if it wasn’t in there. Blend it up to combine. 
Toast a bunch of English muffins spread with a little butter…
And top them with slices of Canadian bacon that you’ve lightly browned in a skillet with a little butter. 
Lay on a poached egg…
Pour on a good amount of Hollandaise sauce…
Then sprinkle on a little paprika because it’s purty.
This is evil. And it must be destroyed.
I love Eggs Benedict!
You
can also make Eggs Florentine! Just wilt a little spinach in a skillet
with a little butter and lay it on the English muffin.
Then add the poached egg, Hollandaise, and paprika!
I’ll have one of each, please.
Have a wonderful Eggs Benedict Day, everyone!
Recipe
Eggs Benedict
- Prep Time:
- 15 Minutes
- Difficulty:
- Easy
- Cook Time:
- 10 Minutes
- Servings:
- 3 Servings
- 3 whole English Muffins
- 3 slices Canadian Bacon
- 3 whole Eggs (plus 3 Egg Yolks)
- 2 sticks Butter
- 1 whole Lemon, Juiced
- Cayenne Pepper To Taste
First, bring a pot of water to a boil. While the water’s boiling,
place a few English muffins halves and an equal number of Canadian bacon
slices on a cookie sheet. Lightly butter the English muffins and place
them under the broiler for just a few minutes, or until the English
muffins are very lightly golden. Be careful not to dry out the Canadian
bacon.
Now if you do not have an egg poacher you can poach your eggs by doing the following: With a spoon, begin stirring the boiling water in a large, circular motion. When the tornado’s really twisting crack in an egg. Or two. Or three. The reason for the swirling is so the egg will wrap around itself as it cook, keeping it together. Cook for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes.
In a small saucepan, melt 2 sticks of butter until sizzling. But don’t let it burn! Separate three eggs and place the yolks into a blender. Turn the blender on low to allow the yolks to combine, then begin pouring the very hot butter in a then stream into the blender. The blender should remain on the whole time, and you should be careful to pour in the butter very slowly. Keep pouring butter until it’s all gone, then immediately begin squeezing lemon juice into the blender. If you are going to add Cayenne pepper this is the point at which you would do that.
Place the English muffins on the plate, face up. Next, place a slice of Canadian bacon on each half. Vegetarian variation: you can omit the Canadian bacon altogether, or you can wilt fresh spinach and place it on the muffins for Eggs Florentine, which is divine in its own right. Place the egg on top of the bacon and then top with a generous helping of Hollandaise sauce.
Note: To ensure that everything is hot at the time when it’s ready to serve plunge the poached eggs back into the hot water just before serving, and make the Hollandaise at the very last minute.
Now if you do not have an egg poacher you can poach your eggs by doing the following: With a spoon, begin stirring the boiling water in a large, circular motion. When the tornado’s really twisting crack in an egg. Or two. Or three. The reason for the swirling is so the egg will wrap around itself as it cook, keeping it together. Cook for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes.
In a small saucepan, melt 2 sticks of butter until sizzling. But don’t let it burn! Separate three eggs and place the yolks into a blender. Turn the blender on low to allow the yolks to combine, then begin pouring the very hot butter in a then stream into the blender. The blender should remain on the whole time, and you should be careful to pour in the butter very slowly. Keep pouring butter until it’s all gone, then immediately begin squeezing lemon juice into the blender. If you are going to add Cayenne pepper this is the point at which you would do that.
Place the English muffins on the plate, face up. Next, place a slice of Canadian bacon on each half. Vegetarian variation: you can omit the Canadian bacon altogether, or you can wilt fresh spinach and place it on the muffins for Eggs Florentine, which is divine in its own right. Place the egg on top of the bacon and then top with a generous helping of Hollandaise sauce.
Note: To ensure that everything is hot at the time when it’s ready to serve plunge the poached eggs back into the hot water just before serving, and make the Hollandaise at the very last minute.
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