Eggs Benedict is really nothing more than an English muffin topped with some Canadian bacon, a poached egg and creamy hollandaise sauce. This is one of my absolute favorite breakfast foods, and I am being serous this time. I just started eating this as an adult, out at some random brunch one morning. I was totally in love with it at first bite. I’ve had it a lot of different ways….traditional with an English muffin, on a bed of spinach and tomato for a low carb version, and one of my favorites is on a crab cake. The picture above is one traditional and one crab cake. My local international market had crab cakes on sale and they also happened to English Muffins from one of our favorite local bakeries. I couldn’t decide so I made one of each. I was not disappointed.
I’m not going to lie and tell you this dish is something you can just make once and it’s perfection. It’s the hollandaise sauce that’s the kicker here. You will probably have really good batches of this sauce, then you may get a batch that’s just OK. Either way it’s usually still pretty yummy. It just take a little practice and you’ll do just fine.
Here’s the basics, this is enough for 2-3 servings:
- 3 egg yolks
- 10 tbs. butter, melted
- juice of one lemon
- salt/paprika/pepper to taste
For the rest of the dish – 2 plates traditional version:
- English muffins – toasted and 1 per serving
- Canadian bacon warmed up a bit
- Hollandaise sauce
- 2 eggs per serving
- hash browns on the side is a nice idea, but not required
Melt the butter 
simmering water 
egg yolks and lemon juice
You will also need a double boiler set up for this. That’s just a pan of simmering water with a heat proof bowl over it. The bowl should fit in the top without touching the water. In the bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the lemon juice. Keep whisking over the simmering water. This is going to take a few minutes of your time and attention but it will be totally worth it. The eggs will start to turn pale and thicken up a little bit. Move the bowl on and off the heat to keep the eggs from totally cooking. The point of all this whisking is to SLOWLY start to cook the eggs. You will finish that off with the warm butter. Now you are ready to VERY slowly drizzle (and I mean a tiny bit at a time, especially at the beginning) the butter into the eggs while continuing to whisk. This will thicken up the sauce and emulsify the butter and the egg together. It takes practice but it’s worth it. Season the sauce with a little salt and paprika. Sometimes I will add some cayenne too, depending on what else I’m going to use the sauce on.
Eggs to start with 
After whisking – lighter in color and thicker 
Add the butter SLOWLY 
Add the seasoning 
Coats the back of a spoon
That’s the hard part – keep your sauce in the bowl over the water with the heat turned off. I tend to check it and whisk a little whenever it seems to start separating.
Sauce keeping warm, toasted muffins 
Fancy egg cups 
Drain off the water
Poached eggs – I have a fancy set of little perforated cups that I make my eggs in (see the pic), but when I’m just making them for me for breakfast, I just use simmering water. Bring water to a simmer in a medium saucepan or deep skillet. Add about 1 -2 tsp of white vinegar to the water. This will help the eggs set up. Crack the eggs in a small cup, then gently drop them in the simmering water. I circulate the water around each egg just to try to keep them together. Let them hang out in the barely simmering water for 3-4 minutes. Take them out and drain them on a clean towel. Stack your toasted English muffin with a piece of the warmed up bacon, then an egg. Note: I like to put some sauce directly on the English muffin, but I am a junkie about this stuff and that might be a bit much for a beginner on this dish. Top the whole thing with some of your fabulous hollandaise sauce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add some paprika to make if fancy if you are in the mood.
Traditional and Crab cake (right) 
Egg and lemon goodness 
Yum!!
Amy’s Kitchen 