Eggs Benedict

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Eggs Benedict
Traditional Eggs Benedict.jpg
Eggs Benedict with Canadian bacon on an English muffin with Hollandaise sauce
Course Breakfast, brunch
Place of origin United States
Region or state New York City
Main ingredients English muffin, Canadian bacon, eggs, Hollandaise sauce
VariationsMultiple

Eggs Benedict is a common American breakfast or brunch dish, consisting of two halves of an English muffin, each topped with Canadian bacon [1] or sliced ham, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. The dish is believed to have originated in New York City.

Contents

Origin and history

Cut eggs benedict cross section Eggs Benedict - Spoons.jpg
Cut eggs benedict cross section

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 Atlantic (e.g. Eggs Royale) with smoked salmon in place of Canadian bacon. Flickr sekimura 2390523527--Smoked salmon eggs Benedict.jpg
Eggs Atlantic (e.g. Eggs Royale) with smoked salmon in place of Canadian bacon.

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]

The modern version differs a bit from these early versions and has split English muffin, topped Canadian bacon, lightly poached egg, and smothered in hollandaise sauce, which is made from eggs, lemon, and melted butter. [7]

Variations

Eggs Florentine with spinach in place of Canadian bacon. Eggs Florentine1.jpg
Eggs Florentine with spinach in place of Canadian bacon.

It is popular to make variations on eggs Benedict, and some of the most popular are eggs florentine (spinach replaces bacon), eggs royale (smoked salmon replaces bacon), eggs Sardou (spinach and artichoke replaces bacon and muffin), eggs neptune (crab replaces bacon), eggs cochon (pulled pork replaces bacon and buttermilk biscuit replaces the muffin). [8] In many cases its become popular to simply replace the word eggs with the meat that at replaces bacon, for example, rather than eggs neptune, crab benedict, even though the recipe still has two poached eggs. [8] Examples of this are steak benedict [9] or salmon benedict, [10] and replacements include corned beef, fried chicken, or shrimp. [9]

Many variations of eggs Benedict exist, the most common involve replacing the bacon or English muffin, or both:

Eggs Cochon served at New Orleans restaurant Cochon De Lait Eggs Benedict.jpg
Eggs Cochon served at New Orleans restaurant
Crab and asparagus eggs benedict, served in Maine Flickr eenwall 3661233576--Crab and asparagus Benedict.jpg
Crab and asparagus eggs benedict, served in Maine
Crab cake benedict, replacing bacon and muffin with a crab cake. Flickr dinesarasota 4771219881--Crab cake Benedict.jpg
Crab cake benedict, replacing bacon and muffin with a crab cake.

Some variations involve replacing the Canadian bacon, such as lobster benedict, corned beef, or steak benedict. In other cases the bread might be changed from an English muffin, to toast, sliced potato, or a biscuit. [40] One popular variation is to replace the Canadian bacon with smoke salmon, and it has gather a large number of names from Eggs Royale, Atlantic, Montreal, and others, and some regions have a local name for this variation. [41]

Meatless Eggs Benedict may omit the Canadian bacon altogether, or replace it with something else such as avocado, tomato, mushroom, or tofu. [42] [43] There is a version of California Eggs Benedict that replaces the Canadian bacon with sliced tomato and avocado. [13]

Eggs benedict has also been made into breakfast sandwich by adding an additional English muffin half on top. [44]

A version which replaces the sauce, is Eggs Halifax, which substitutes hollandaise for New England clam chowder. [45]

See also

Notes

  1. Other name variations for Eggs Royale include Eggs Atlantic, [28] Eggs Benjamin, [29] Eggs Charlotte, [30] Eggs Copenhagen, [31] Eggs Halifax, [28] Eggs Hemingway, [32] Eggs Montreal, [31] Eggs Norwegian (Norvégienne), [28] Eggs Pacifico, [28] Eggs Victoria, [28] Oregon Benedict, [28] smoked salmon Benedict, [28] and smoked salmon eggs Benny. [28]

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References

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