Eggs Benedict and its many variations

As soon as Benedict’s eggs entered the menus of Lithuanian restaurants, they immediately established themselves there and became almost synonymous with late weekend breakfasts. I almost always order eggs benedicts if they’re on the menu. And I almost always get a bun with slices of smoked salmon, a soft-boiled egg, and dutch sauce And “what’s wrong” – you ask – everything is great, it’s just that the eggs served like this are not the real benedicts, but a very popular version. So, about everything in a row.

A bit of history

Eggs Benedict the dish was created at the end of the 19th century. One of the most popular versions says that such a dish was ordered by Lemuel Benedict, a guest of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York. He asked the chef to make eggs with bacon and gravy, which later became known as Eggs Benedict. Waldorf hotel also known in culinary history for Red Velvet cake, well Waldorf salad

Later, various versions of benedict with their own names poured in.

Eggs Royal may have originated as a variation on Egg Benedict, replacing the bacon with smoked salmon. The dish is really much more luxurious, and for me it is also tastier.

And then there is Eggs Florentine, in cooking florentine called dishes with spinach. Eggs Florentine, a version of eggs benedict, with blanched spinach instead of bacon.

Other versions

• Eggs Benedict: English muffin, bacon, egg without shell and Hollandaise sauce.
• Eggs Royal: English muffin, salmon, egg without shell and Hollandaise sauce.
• Eggs Florentine: English muffin, spinach, egg without shell and Hollandaise sauce.
• Eggs Neptune: English muffin, crab meat, egg without shell and Hollandaise sauce.
• Avocado Toast Eggs Benedict: toast instead of an English muffin, avocados, egg without shell and Hollandaise sauce.

And many others.

I usually make eggs benedict at home with toast, avocado, salmon and in dutch, but this time I thought of preparing the classic Eggs Benedict, Eggs Royal and Eggs Florentine as they should be, from scratch, with home-baked English muffins, English muffins.

Recipes

English Muffins, English yeast buns

These are simple, yeast buns, simply baked not in the oven but on a pan. The yeast dough is raised, rolled out to be a couple of centimeters thick, then circles are cut out with a culinary ring or a suitable sized bowl and left to rise, sprinkled with a little flour to prevent sticking.

When it rises, fry on a low heat in a pan for 7 minutes on each side. I greased a spitz pan with oil and baked it with a lid to prevent it from drying out. Next time I will use much less flour for “sprinkling”, and it is best to sprinkle with coarser flour, for example, semolina; even less oil, and I will cook on an even lower heat (I cooked on the 5th part out of 10ies).

Buns are eaten warm. Split in half, if necessary by slightly cutting and turning, similar to separating macaroons, spread with jam. It says that it can be made in advance, stored in an airtight container, but fresh is much softer and tastier.

Here are some versions of the recipes from verified sources. They are all very similar. I cooked according to the first one, without butter, just mixed water with milk in half.

King Arthur Baking English Muffins

Ingredients:

• 500 g of flour (depending on the type)
• 300 ml of warm water
• 7 g of dry yeast
• 10 g of salt
• 20 g of sugar
• 30 ml of milk

Instructions:

1. Mix the yeast with warm water and let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar, then add the yeast mixture and milk. Knead for about 5-7 minutes.
3. Leave the dough covered for an hour to rise.
4. Roll out the dough about 2 cm thick and cut into circles. Leave to rise for another 30-45 minutes.
5. Cook on a dry hot surface until both sides are golden brown.

Source: King Arthur Baki

BBC Good Food English Muffins

Ingredients:

• 500 g of flour
• 7 g of dry yeast
• 300 ml of warm milk
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 30 g of butter

Instructions:

1. Heat the milk and melt the butter.
2. Mix flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the warm milk and knead until the dough becomes elastic.
3. Leave the dough to rise for an hour.
4. Roll out the dough and cut. Leave to rise for about 30 minutes.
5. Cook on a hot surface until golden brown, about 6-8 minutes per side.

Source: BBC Good Food

America’s Test Kitchen English Muffins

Ingredients:

• 450 g of flour
• 350 ml of milk
• 10 g of salt
• 7 g of dry yeast
• 25 g of sugar
• 30 g of butter

Instructions:

1. Warm the milk to about 43°C and mix it with the yeast, let it stand for about 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, salt and sugar, then add the yeast mixture and butter. Knead for 5-7 minutes.
3. Cover and let the dough rise for 1 hour.
4. Roll out the dough and cut circles. Leave to rise for another 30-45 minutes.
5. Cook on a hot surface until both sides are nicely browned.

Source: America’s Test Kitchen

Hollandaise, a Dutch egg and butter sauce

Next, Hollandaise making the sauce. You need to beat a couple of yolks with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice or wine vinegar diluted in half with water, then heat the container with the egg beater over a hot pot of water and whisk in the room temperature butter a little at a time. Season with salt, nutmeg, white pepper.

Hollandaise sauce

Ingredients (enough for 4 servings)

• 2 yolks
• 10 ml of lemon juice
• 120 g of room (or melted) butter
• Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix the yolks and lemon juice.
2. Heat the container over a pot of barely simmering water. Stir constantly.
3. Option A, a little at a time, no more than 10g, add soft, room temperature butter and mix until it melts, then add another and so on.
4. Option B, very slowly pour in the melted butter, stirring constantly.
5. Season with salt and pepper, stir for a few more minutes until the sauce becomes creamy.

Eggs without shell, how to cook

There are many ways to cook eggs without a shell, there are even special silicone containers. I teach two and share them.

Guaranteed, suitable if you need to prepare several eggs:

Cover a small bowl or cup with cling film and press it slightly to make an indentation, add a drop of oil, break in an egg and wrap it up. Boil in hot water for 3-4 minutes until the white becomes opaque. After boiling, carefully remove from the bag.

If you need to prepare breakfast for a larger company, it will be faster to just put the eggs in the pot. A few tricks will come in handy here.

• Choose a larger pot, I cook in a deep pan with higher sides.
• Pour water to a depth of 5 cm.
• Bring to a boil and reduce heat, bubbles should barely appear.
• Salt the water and add vinegar, about 15 ml/liter.
• Add the eggs one by one, you can beat them in a cup beforehand or directly into the water.
• Cook for about 4 minutes, until the whites are no longer transparent and pale.
• Then take out the eggs with a slotted spoon, dry the slotted spoon with paper before placing them on the bun.

The fresher the eggs, the more complete and firm the proteins are, they do not spread through the water. Some people recommend putting the eggs in a sieve first and letting them drain. I haven’t tried to cook like this yet, so I can neither confirm nor deny it.

Eggs Benedict one step at a time

Finally, it was the benedict’s turn.

The cooking sequence is as follows

• prepare the plates on which you will serve
• prepare ingredients, salmon slices for Eggs royal; for real benedicts, toast the bacon and leave it on a paper towel to absorb the fat; blanch spinach florentines in boiling water.
• Heat water for shelled eggs
• Make the hollandaise, at the end remove the pot with the bowl from the heat, cover with a towel and leave warm. Just before serving, whisk a little more.
• Place the buns in the toaster
• Inject the eggs
• While the eggs are cooking, start serving: place the buns on plates, arrange the salmon/bacon/spinach on each according to the dish.
• Place an egg one at a time
• Fill it up in dutch

Delicious!

And here are the recipes for each:

Egg Benedict

Ingredients, 2 servings:

• 2 English muffins (about 150 g)
• 4 eggs (about 240 g)
• 4 slices of bacon (about 120 g)
• Hollandaise sauce

Instructions:

1. Fry the bacon until crispy.
2. Boil the eggs without the shell (about 3-4 minutes).
3. Cut the buns lengthwise and toast them.
4. Place the bacon on each side of the bun, then the egg and pour the Hollandaise sauce over it.

Egg Royal

Ingredients, 2 servings:

• 2 English muffins (about 150 g)
• 4 eggs (about 240 g)
• Pieces of smoked salmon (about 120 g)
• Hollandaise sauce

Instructions:

1. Boil the eggs without the shell (about 3-4 minutes).
2. Cut the buns lengthwise and toast them.
3. Place the smoked salmon on each side of the bun, followed by the egg and drizzle with the Hollandaise sauce.

Egg Florentine

Ingredients, 2 servings:

• 2 English muffins (about 150 g)
• 4 eggs (about 240 g)
• 250 g of spinach, lightly fried
• Hollandaise sauce

Instructions:

1. Boil the eggs without the shell (about 3-4 minutes).
2. Cut the buns lengthwise and toast them.
3. Place the spinach on each side of the bun, followed by the egg and top with the Hollandaise sauce.

In conclusion

Was it worth making benedicts from scratch? Yes. It was interesting and fun to try. However, hand on heart I can tell you that it is neither quick nor very easy, so I will continue to shorten the process I leave the English muffins to the English, and white bread toast is perfect for me. That first benedict, Eggs Benedict, isn’t my favorite either, nor is its spinach version. I stick to Eggs Benedict Avocado Toast and with salmon, not even necessarily smoked, our house salted is ideal for me. Here they are recipe.

Anyway, even better when you think about how much effort goes into preparing a meal, brunch at a restaurant, and if it’s on an outdoor patio with a glass of mimosas, sounds like it’s worth every penny