Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict

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
Variations	Multiple
Media: Eggs Benedict

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.

Origin and history

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.

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.

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:

• Avocado toast eggs Benedict – substitutes toast in place of the muffin and adds sliced avocado.^[11]
• California eggs Benedict – adds sliced Hass avocado. Variations may include sliced tomato instead of Canadian bacon.^[12][13]
• Eggs Balmoral – substitutes haggis in place of Canadian bacon.^[14]
• Eggs Blackstone – substitutes streaky bacon in place of Canadian bacon and adds a tomato slice.^[15]
• Eggs Blanchard – substitutes béchamel sauce in place of Hollandaise.^[16]
• Eggs Chesapeake (crab eggs Benedict, crab cakes Benedict) – substitutes a Maryland blue crab cake in place of Canadian bacon.^[17][18]

Eggs Cochon served at New Orleans restaurant

Crab and asparagus eggs benedict, served in Maine

• Eggs Cochon (eggs cochon de lait) – substitutes pork "debris" (slow roasted pork shredded in its own juices) in place of Canadian bacon, buttermilk biscuit in place of the English muffin. Served in New Orleans restaurants.^[19][20]
• Eggs Florentine – adds spinach, sometimes substituted in place of the Canadian bacon.^[21] Older versions of eggs Florentine add spinach to poached or shirred eggs. The cheese gruyère mornay is added, though sometimes hollandaise is subbed.^[7]
• Eggs Hebridean – a Scottish variety, substitutes black pudding in place of the Canadian bacon.^[22]
• Eggs Hussarde – substitutes Holland rusks in place of the English muffin and adds Bordelaise sauce.^[23][24]
• Eggs Mornay – substitutes Mornay sauce in place of the Hollandaise.^[25]
• Eggs Neptune – substitutes crab meat in place of Canadian bacon.^[26]
• Steak Benedict – substitutes a small steak in place of Canadian bacon and sometimes replaces the Hollandaise with béarnaise.^[27][9]
• Eggs Royale^{[note 1]} – substitutes salmon which may be smoked, in place of Canadian bacon.^[28]
• Eggs Trivette – adds Creole mustard to the Hollandaise and a topping of crayfish.^[33]
• Eggs Sardou - 19th century New Orleans variation, has poached eggs with artichoke hearts, creamed spinach, and hollandaise sauce.^[34]
• Eggs Woodhouse – includes two eggs and artichoke hearts, creamed spinach, bechamel sauce, Iberico ham, black truffle and beluga caviar. The recipe is featured in the book How To Archer, inspired by the television series Archer on FXX.^[35]
• Eggs Zenedict – adds toasted scone and peameal bacon smothered in sundried tomato Hollandaise. A specialty of restaurants in the defunct Canadian retail chain Zellers.^[36]
• Huevos Benedictos – adds sliced avocado or Mexican chorizo, topped with salsa (such as salsa roja or salsa brava) and Hollandaise sauce.^[37]
• Irish Benedict – substitutes corned beef or Irish bacon in place of Canadian bacon.^[38]
• New Jersey Benedict – substitutes Taylor pork roll in place of Canadian bacon.^[39]

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

• List of breakfast foods
• List of brunch foods
• List of egg dishes
• List of foods named after people
• List of regional dishes of the United States

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]

References

1. Ash, John. "Classic Eggs Benedict". Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
2. "Delmonico's Menu". Delmonico's Restaurant. Archived from the original on September 27, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
3. "The epicurean—A complete treatise of analytical and practical studies on the culinary art, including table and wine service, how to prepare and cook dishes, etc., and a selection of interesting bills of fare of Delmonico's from 1862 to 1894". The Internet Archive. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
4. Benedict, Cutts. "Eggs Benedict New York: Feedback". Archived from the original on December 1, 1998. Retrieved February 23, 2007.
5. "Talk of the Town". The New Yorker. December 19, 1942. Notes: This hasn't been verified at the source, but is instead taken from the letter to Karpf by Cutts Benedict and the page of J. J. Schnebel.
6. Claiborne, Craig (September 9, 1967). "American Classic: Eggs Benedict". The New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
7. "Eggs benedict: six versions of a New York classic". Travel. March 26, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
8. "Eggs benedict: six versions of a New York classic". Travel. March 26, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
9. Lau, Sue (March 20, 2016). "Steak Benedict". Palatable Pastime. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
10. Cite error: The named reference ATLANTIC2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
11. Hardesty, Kim (nd). "Avocado on Toast with Poached Egg and Blender Hollandaise". Low Carb Maven. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
12. Rhee, Chungah (May 8, 2012). "California Eggs Benedict". Damn Delicious. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
13. Delicious, Chungah @ Damn (May 8, 2012). "California Eggs Benedict". Damn Delicious. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
14. "Menus". The Cricklade Club. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
15. Rombauer, Irma S.; Marion Rombauer Becker (1995) [1975]. "Egg Dishes". The Joy of Cooking. Illustrated by Ginnie Hofmann and Ikki Matsumoto (1st Scribner 1995 ed.). New York, New York: Scribner. p. 222. ISBN 0-02-604570-2. Here the recipe is called poached eggs Blackstone. It uses a fried slice of flour-dipped tomato, minced bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise. No bread for base.
16. Hirtzler, Victor (1988). The 1910 Hotel St. Francis cook book (1st ed.). Sausalito, California: Windgate Press. ISBN 978-0915269068.
17. "Eggs Chesapeake". Thomas Breads. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
18. Roma, Cathy (May 10, 2019). "Crab Eggs Benedict". What Should I Make For... Retrieved November 9, 2021.
19. "Eggs Cochon du Lait" Eat Your World
20. "Five places for great cochon du lait"Gambit Archived March 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
21. "Rich mix of patrons makes Moto's special". The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution. December 18, 1986. pp. A/6. ... eggs Florentine ($3.95), eggs poached and topped with Hollandaise sauce, served on spinach and English muffin
22. Claire (December 21, 2018). "Eggs Atlantic with a Florentine Twist". Sprinkles & Sprouts. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
23. DeMers, John (1998). Food of New Orleans: Authentic Recipes from the Big Easy. Food photography by John Hay (1st ed.). Boston: Periplus Editions. p. 44. ISBN 962-593-227-5.
24. "Recipes – Eggs Hussarde". New Orleans, Louisiana: Brennan's Restaurant. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
25. Claiborne, Craig (May 26, 1960). "Maligned Vegetable Has Loyal Fans". The New York Times. p. 28.
26. Zimmer, Erin. "Eggs Neptune in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina". Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
27. Vaughan, Kelly (April 29, 2020). "The Ultimate Guide to Making Eggs Benedict at Home". Martha Stewart. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
28. "The Legend of Eggs Halifax". Shelf5. June 1, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
29. Karlleuck (July 20, 2019). "Karl's Eggs Benjamin". Jabberwocky Stew. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
30. "Eggs Charlotte". BigOven. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
31. "Eggs Hemingway". Instructables. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
32. "Eggs Hemingway (or Eggs Atlantic) with smoked salmon". Shelf5. January 19, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
33. Shawnda (March 23, 2013). "Eggs Trivette". The Brewer & The Baker.
34. "Eggs Sardou (New Orleans-Style Poached Eggs With Artichoke Hearts, Spinach, and Hollandaise) Recipe". Serious Eats. Retrieved November 28, 2024.
35. "Eggs Woodhouse for Good from Archer". Binging with Babish. December 13, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
36. "Zellers Diner". Zellers Diner food pages. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
37. "Huevos Benedictos". Instructables.
38. "Irish Eggs Benedict – Low Carb". April Golightly. February 13, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
39. Shelton, Jay (July 8, 2020). "Steps to Make Ultimate Toast with Eggs Benedict and Baked Beans". Most Popular Recipes. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
40. "Level-Up Your Next Brunch With These Eggs Benedict Recipes". Food & Wine. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
41. FJYE. "Eggs Hemingway". Instructables. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
42. kseniaprints (March 20, 2023). "Meatless & Vegetarian Eggs Benedict Recipe with Avocado (Gluten free!)". At the Immigrant's Table. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
43. "| Land O'Lakes Foodservice". www.landolakesfoodservice.com. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
44. "Hangover Easy Eggs Benedict Sandwich". Food Network. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
45. "The Legend of Eggs Halifax: What on earth is it, and who calls it that?". Eat This Town. June 1, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2024.

External links

• “Was He the Eggman?” An account in The New York Times about Lemuel Benedict and the efforts of Jack Benedict, the son of Lemuel's first cousin, to promote Lemuel's story. Article includes link to an audio slide show.