Beautiful eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is a delicious dish consisting of an English muffin, poached egg, Canadian bacon and a homemade hollandaise sauce. This breakfast dish is the epitome of luxury!

People are intimidated, most likely by poaching the eggs and making a hollandaise sauce. If you don’t know how to poach eggs or make hollandaise sauce, try learning new culinary skills. Eggs Benedict is easier than it looks!

Plating the individual dish components while they are hot takes some planning. Here are the steps I recommend to do it:

1. Measure out the hollandaise sauce ingredients and have them near a blender.

2. Toast the English muffins, sear the Canadian bacon and then keep warm in a 170°F oven while preparing the other ingredients.

3. Poach the eggs.

4. Then, make the blender hollandaise sauce and assemble the plates.

Here are some pointers about cooking Eggs Benedict to perfection.

For the poached eggs, use the freshest eggs you can get. Farm fresh is the best if you can find them.

Whites of fresh eggs will gather more compactly around the yolk, creating a neater shape and rounder. The egg whites thin as they age and spread out when making poached eggs.

Here is a great method for poaching eggs. First, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, then reduce the heat so the water is at an aggressive simmer, not a hard boil. Add 2-3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar or other white vinegar. The acid helps the egg whites’ proteins coagulate when the eggs are dropped into the water.

Second, crack each egg into individual ramekins or other small prep bowls. The egg yolks must remain whole. Place all the cups of eggs near the stove. Have a large, slotted spoon ready.

Third, swirl the simmering water in the pan to make a tornado-like funnel. Pour one egg into the center of the funnel. The edge of the prep bowl should almost touch the water when the egg is slipped into the water. The swirling water causes the egg white to wrap itself around the yolk. After 1 minute, flip the egg over using a slotted spoon so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Then, gently add a second egg to the pan’s opposite side. Don’t worry about swirling the water for the second egg. Use the slotted spoon to coax the egg white around the yolk; for medium-firm yolks, set a timer for 3 minutes. Adjust the time up or down for firmer or runnier yolks. Cook the egg until the white is opaque.

Use a slotted spoon to lift the egg and shake it lightly to see how firm the yolk is. Use the rule of first in and first out when cooking the eggs. Drain well before serving.

When placing the egg on the meat, tuck the strings of egg white under the yolk for a pretty presentation.

And now, the hollandaise! If you’ve had Eggs Benedict before, you’ve probably encountered this rich buttery sauce. Its creamy consistency and flavors meld beautifully with eggs, asparagus or salmon.

While this sauce may seem fancy, it’s very easy to make! But like many other emulsions, the fear that it will separate or not come together can be nerve-wracking. Let’s go through the steps to create a perfect homemade hollandaise sauce.

Hollandaise sauce is made with eggs, lemon and melted butter. The creamy texture in the sauce comes from the eggs beaten with the butter to create an emulsion. The warm melted butter cooks the eggs as they are mixed. However, to be safe, I recommend using pasteurized eggs.

Hollandaise is best if used as soon as it’s ready, as it is meant to be a warm sauce. Since making hollandaise in a blender is so fast, wait until everything else for the meal is ready and make the sauce last.

Melt 1/2 cup unsalted butter or ghee in a microwave (make sure it’s covered as it will splatter) for 1 minute until it’s hot. You could also heat it on the stove.

In a high-powered blender, add 3 room temperature egg yolks (pasteurized preferred), 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper, and blend for 5 seconds until combined.

With the blender running on medium-high, very slowly stream the hot butter through the hole in the top of the lid into the mixture until it’s emulsified. The butter needs to be hot, not just melted. The recipe will not emulsify with lukewarm butter.

If you have an immersion blender, add all ingredients except the hot butter to a cup or jar. Turn the blender on with it firmly planted on the bottom of the container and slowly drizzle in the butter.

If the sauce does break, don’t worry. Try one of these two methods to bring the sauce back to life.

• Slowly add 1-2 tablespoons of boiling water as you blend until the consistency is right.

• Add 1 teaspoon of hot water and 1 extra egg yolk while the blender is on, and blend until it becomes perfectly creamy.

Making delicious Eggs Benedict breakfast at home is much easier than you think, especially when you whirl up the hollandaise sauce in the blender. This delicious brunch recipe does not need to be enjoyed only in restaurants.

(Sources: http://www.tastingtable.com; washington.ces.ncsu.edu; whatscookingamerica.net)

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