Eggs Benedict, the king of breakfasts. Also incredibly bad for you unfortunately - it must be a million calories a fork full. The only tricky bit is making a hollandaise sauce - which is effectively a savoury custard.
Ingredients :
Muffin halfs - I see it made with these a lot, I cant remember what the repertoire says but any bread will do in reality.
Poached eggs
Very good quality bacon if possible - I think kitchen repertoire says ham or tongue maybe, so thats possible as well
Sauce : Hollandaise
Egg yolk
Butter - unsalted
Fresh lemon juice
Extra water for thining
Method :
Make the sauce first
You can use the traditional bain marie method - but that it very slow.
I use the hot butter method. Get the smallish pot you’re going to use, and heat the butter until its frothy. Take the pot off the heat - this is crucial or you will end up with instantly cooked egg and the sauce will be grainy. Use a whisk and beat the egg yolk inot the hot butter - it will now form a weak sauce. Further cooking and whisking is required, but slowly with the heat - lowest possible after the pot has cooled a bit. Add about the same amount of butter again to cool the sauce, this will melt and further extend the sauce as its cooking. Add the lemon juice, this will prevent the sauce from over thickening.
Sauce thickness - this is a matter of personal taste. I like it thin. Ive had it served and its like actual custard - which I dont find that pleasant. It will continue to congeal anyway - so thick sauce ends up like omelette on your plate after twenty minutes.
Keep whisking - maintaining the sauce is a learned art. Add more water to retain the desired consistency. Its very, very easy to get wrong. Almost certainly the first mistake will be overcooking and splitting. If this happens - try adding water as this will thin it, but it won’t save it if its gone too far.
The sauce overcooks around the pan edges like an omelette. Dont overly worry as long as the main part of the sauce looks good. You can incorporate this if your good with the whisk but its all down to taste.
Supermarket hollandaise has lots of additives, thickeners and preservatives - and to boot, Ive not had a decent one. Its not worth the effort in my opinion, hollandaise can only be made fresh.
Main dish
Making eggs Benedict is a hassle - make no mistake. Timing is everything. The sauce takes like ten minutes or so to get it to a point where you can occasionally stir it and add a bit of liquid to keep it ticking over.
Prepare poached eggs as usual - usually two bits of bacon and two eggs, two half muffins per person.
When all cooked, place eggs on bread, bacon on top and douse liberally in sauce.
Ideal drink :
OJ is key. Due to its fatty nature you can forget tea or coffee unless it black. Other citrus is a possibility but OJ is favourite.
