How to make great eggs benedict

There are two credible stories behind the invention of eggs benedict – both in New York City in the 19th century. The famed Delmonico’s restaurant (also credited with inventing baked alaska and lobster newburg) claims that, in the 1860s, a patron called Mrs LeGrand Benedict requested an off-menu dish of poached eggs, a toasted muffin and cooked ham with hollandaise sauce, and the restaurant’s chef Charles Ranhofer obliged. The other story has it that, 34 years later at The Waldorf, a hung-over patron called Lemuel Benedict ordered buttered toast, poached eggs, bacon and hollandaise. Chef Oscar Tschirky thought the combo was so good he made a few tweaks and put it on his menu.

Defining characteristics

• A soft bed of warm, crisp, lightly toasted muffins, which forms the base for all the other ingredients.

• Slightly salty, yet sweet, moist bacon. Eggs benedict is traditionally made using ¼ inchthick rounds of Canadian bacon, but these aren’t easy to find in the UK and our gammon steaks are too large, too firm and usually too salty for this dish.

• Perfectly cooked poached eggs with just-firm whites and stillrunny yolks.

• An unctuous blanket of silky smooth hollandaise sauce, flavoured with lemon juice and cayenne.

Tips for success

• Be organised. All the elements need to be warm and freshly cooked so make sure you have everything ready to go before you start.

• Use very fresh eggs. Freshly laid eggs will give you lovely plump cushions of egg. The uncooked whites of older eggs will be more watery and won’t cling around the yolks as they poach.

• Use good quality unsalted butter. Hollandaise sauce is all about the butter – use unsalted so you can control the seasoning. It should be a contrast to the salty bacon.

• Don’t overcook the bacon. It should be cooked through but not crisp or browned.

How to jazz it up

• Replace the bacon with a grilled disc of black pudding or a ruffled slice of smoked salmon. A piece of smoked haddock is also wonderful, as are cooked leaf spinach (squeezed dry), cooked asparagus spears or slices of avocado.

• Lobster or crayfish tails are a luxury twist on bacon – flavour the hollandaise with a touch of mustard and a little grated parmesan or gruyère.

• Replacing the hollandaise with a mornay-style cheese sauce, made with a strong, punchy cheddar, is delicious.

• Try adding whizzed watercress leaves to the hollandaise – so good with poached eggs.

• For our master recipe, search ‘egg benedict‘ at deliciousmagazine.co.uk