Eggs Benedict

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Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict-01-cropped.jpg
Origin
Place of origin United States
Details
Course served Breakfast, brunch
Main ingredient(s) Eggs, English muffin, Canadian bacon, hollandaise sauce
Variations multiple

Eggs Benedict is an American brunch or breakfast dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin each of which is topped with Canadian bacon – or sometimes ham or bacon – a poached egg; and hollandaise sauce. The dish was first popularized in New York City. Many variations on the basic recipe are served.

Origin

There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of Eggs Benedict.

In an interview recorded in the "Talk of the Town" column of The New Yorker in 1942, the year before his death,[1] Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, claimed 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 famed 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.[2]

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon in place of Canadian bacon, also known as Eggs Royale

Another 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 claimed to have received through his uncle, a friend of the commodore. Commodore Benedict's recipe — by way of Montgomery — varies greatly from chef Ranhofer's version,[3] particularly in the hollandaise sauce preparation — calling for the addition of "hot, hard-cooked egg and ham mixture".[4]

Variations

Eggs Benedict with bacon on toast is said to have been the original concept for the dish.

Several variations of Eggs Benedict exist.

See also

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 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.
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  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Title of recipe is poached eggs Blackstone. Uses fried slice of flour dipped tomato, minced bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise. No bread for base.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Mendocino, California.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Ithaca, New York.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. "eggs Florentine ($3.95), eggs poached and topped with Hollandaise sauce, served on spinach and English muffin" Notes: Not directly verified. Viewed through Google News Archive snippet view.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Hermosa Beach, California.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Boulder, Colorado.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  15. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in New York, New York.
  16. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. "Irish Benedict ($7.50): two poached Eggs and corned beef hash on an English muffin covered with hollandaise sauce" Notes: Not directly verified. Viewed through Google News Archive snippet view.
  17. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in San Diego, California.
  18. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Dover, New Hampshire.
  19. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Glasgow, Scotland.
  21. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Notes: Located in Glasgow, Scotland.

External links

  • Who Cooked That Up? page on origin of the dish with a recipe
  • 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.