RECIPE: The Easiest Eggs Benedict
With a genuinely foolproof hollandaise and no-fuss poached eggs
Welcome to another issue of Le Cordon Bong, a newsletter about recreating Michelin star meals at home. You can get in touch with me via the comments or by email. All of the previous content is up on the website (which I personally find to be a more enjoyable reading experience than the email format).
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Week 6, vol. 2
Welcome new readers!
It’s still quite a few weeks before restaurants open up here in the UK, but if you’ve been craving brunch, this recipe will make you amazing, restaurant-quality Eggs Benedict in just 15 minutes (and minimal washing up)!
A few things I hope you’ll take away from this recipe:
Hollandaise is really easy - There’s no messing about with hot melted butter, blenders, or furiously beating an emulsion into submission. Just peaceful, serene, quiet stirring on a Sunday morning.
Poached eggs are really easy too - I’m here to dispel a bunch of myths about poaching eggs. There are lots of methods out there like adding vinegar, swirling the water, straining the eggs - honestly, you don’t need them. All it takes is hot water and eggs.
If you do try the recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments, or you can hit me up via email. Happy cooking!
The Easiest Eggs Benedict
Serves 2
Total time: 15-20 minutes
Hollandaise Sauce
Total time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment:
Medium saucepan
Medium stainless steel or enamelled bowl - do not use aluminium, as it can discolour the sauce
Whisk
Large saucepan for poaching the eggs
Ingredients:
For the hollandaise sauce
2 large egg yolks (about 40g of egg yolk) - eggs with deep orange yolks will give you a more deeply yellow sauce
170g unsalted butter, cubed - you can use anything between 120-200g of butter; less butter will give you a fluffier (and healthier) sauce, more butter will give you a creamier sauce. 170g is the sweet spot for me. Using much more than 200g will increase the risk of the sauce splitting.
2 tsp water (10ml)
2 tsp lemon juice (10ml)
2 tsp double cream (10ml) - optional, but it will help stabilise the sauce
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
To finish
4 eggs - use the freshest eggs you can find, they will have tighter egg whites that hold on to the yolk, resulting in a better shape
2 English muffins, sliced
4 slices of ham, smoked salmon, or any other topping you want with your Eggs Benedict
Freshly ground black pepper and/or finely chopped chives
Method:
Heat about 2 inches of water in a medium saucepan on medium heat, until it is simmering very gently. In a bowl, add the yolks, butter, water, lemon juice, and cream.
Set the bowl above the saucepan (this setup is called a bain-marie) and stir continuously with a whisk - it doesn’t have to be particularly fast, just a constant motion to prevent any hot spots in the bowl. Keep stirring after the butter has melted - the sauce should start to froth up slightly and begin to thicken.
Tricks & Techniques: The stirring can take anywhere between 5 to 15 minutes depending on the size of your bowl, how hot the water is, the shape of the saucepan, and other factors. If in doubt, just be patient, keep stirring, and wait for the sauce to heat up and thicken.
The whole idea is that we’re very gently bringing up the temperature of the egg yolks to the sweet spot where they’re really thick, but before they turn into scrambled eggs.
When the sauce is glossy and has reached the desired thickness (the whisk should leave trails when stirring - see picture 4 below), take it off the heat. Season with a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper, and give it a quick whisk for 5 seconds to mix in the seasoning - this will also stir off some excess heat.
Turn off the heat on the saucepan of water, and set the bowl of hollandaise back on top. The residual heat should keep things warm enough (you can turn the heat back to low if things get cold, but be really careful not to overheat). Give it an occasional stir with the whisk while preparing the rest of the dish.
Tricks & Techniques: The sauce is still warm, so water will continue to evaporate. If the sauce starts looking a little oily on the surface and looks like it’s threatening to split apart, add 4 or 5 drops of water, and whisk it in.
If the sauce gets too thick, do the same thing - add a few drops of water and whisk.
To poach the eggs, boil 2 litres of water in a kettle, and pour into a large saucepan. Turn the heat up to low. We’re aiming to poach at 85-90°C / 185-194°F, so it should be at the right temperature almost immediately, after some of the heat from the boiling water transfers to the saucepan. The water should be steaming strongly, but not bubbling (or you could just use a thermometer to check).
Break the eggs into small ramekins, and gently tip them out into the water. Poach for 4 minutes, and lift out carefully with a slotted spoon. The wispy, loose egg whites (which we don’t want) should just fall away.
Toast the muffins. Place the ham on the muffin, then the poached eggs, and spoon over the hollandaise. Finish with freshly ground black pepper and/or chives.
A quick note on poaching eggs:
The ideas behind this method are (1) poaching at 85-90°C / 185-194°F means the eggs don’t get rumbled around by boiling water; and (2) using a large volume of water means the temperature doesn’t drop when adding the eggs, so the whites will set quickly and retain their shape.
Some recipes recommend adding vinegar to the water - personally, I find it results in more rubbery egg whites, and imparts an undesirable flavour. Some swirl the water to try and wrap the whites around the yolk - if you use plenty of water, this isn’t necessary as the whites will set quickly.
Some recommend straining the eggs to get rid of the wispy, loose whites. It’s worth doing if you want really perfect poached eggs, but I usually can’t be bothered - the loose whites are going to fall away anyway.