Monthly Archives: February 2018

The History of Eggs Benedict

Posted by meetsy in Egg Recipe, Egg Recipe History, sauces and tagged with ,

This is a rich breakfast dish, which brings to mind the relaxed dining in an expensive hotel restaurant (or ordered through room service).  It consists of two halves of a toasted English muffin, a slice of ham, a poached egg, smothered in Hollandaise sauce.  (Sadly, the closest many people have come to Eggs Benedict, is a MacDonald’s Egg McMuffin, which swaps out the Hollandaise for melted American Cheese.)

The dish is worth every bit the effort to make it. Too bad it’s history is so muddled with alternating stories all around the end of the 1800’s.

On December 19, 1942, in the column called “Talk of the Town” in The New Yorker Magazine one of the origin stories of eggs Benedict is offered.

5thAve_WaldorfAstoria_Interior_PalmGarden_1902

Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Interior Palm Garden 1902

The story, as published:

“Forty-eight years ago Lemuel Benedict came into the dining room of the old Waldorf for a late breakfast. He had a hangover & ordered buttered toast, crisp bacon, 2 poached eggs, & a hooker of hollandaise sauce, & then & there put together the dish that has, ever since, borne his name, Eggs Benedict.”  “ 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.”   

The year that Lemuel Benedict cited would have been around 1894.

In 1896 – Fannie Merritt Farmer’s (1857-1915) revised, edited, and reissued Mary J. Lincoln’s cookbook called The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. In it is a recipe for Eggs à la Benedict. The recipe is as follows:

“Eggs à la Benedict – Split and toast English muffins. Sauté circular pieces of cold boiled ham, place these over the halves of muffins, arrange on each a dropped egg, and pour around Hollandaise Sauce II , diluted with cream to make of such consistency to pour easily.”

In September, 1967, in an column in The New York Times Magazine, Craig Clairborne wrote about a letter he had received from an Edward P. Montgomery, regarding a recipe given to him by his mother, who had received it from her brother, a friend of the Commodore E.C. Benedict, a banker and yachtsman, who died in 1920, at the ripe age of 86 years old. Presuming that the Commodore was in his 30’s when the dish was created in his name, the year would have been around 1894.

Two months later, (November 1967)  in a letter to the editor published in the New York Times Magazine, Mable C. Butler of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts corrected Mr. Clairborne’s accounting of the origins of Eggs Benedict.   She claimed to be a relative of Mrs. Le Grand Benedict.  Mr. and Mrs. Benedict dined every Saturday at Delmonico’s.  She asked the maitre d’hotel if there were anything new to suggest. He asked her what sounded to her.  She suggested poached eggs on toasted English muffins, with a thin slice of ham, hollandaise sauce and a truffle on top.

To back this version up, Delmonico’s Chef Ranhofer published a recipe called Eggs a’ la Benedick (Eufa a’ la Benedick) in his The Epicurean cookbook called The Epicurean published in 1894.  His Eggs à la Benedick recipe:

“A round of cooked ham an eighth of an inch thick and of the same diameter as the muffins one each half. Heat in a moderate oven and put a poached egg on each toast. Cover the whole with Hollandaise sauce.”

The problem is, as with all food history, and all invention history, for that matter, great ideas are often considered by different people, at the same time.  It is possible that multiple people came up with the same idea at the same. It is possible that some version of this recipe was published in one of the many magazines or newspapers of the day.  Or, it is possible that some of these people were related, ran in the same circles (as they dined in expensive restaurants) and one, or several heard of the dish, and was curious to try it.  . It is also possible that Mr. and Mrs. Benedict had heard of the dish suggested by Lemuel Benedict (or visa versa).  Perhaps they were related?  Perhaps the combination was obvious given the food trends of the era was an obvious one.  Sometimes food combinations invent themselves.  After all, who really invented peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?  Obvious pairings are meant to be together.

Eggs Benedict for Two

4 fresh English muffins

8 pieces of thin sliced lean ham cut into rounds the size of the muffins

8 eggs

¾ of a cup of Hollandaise sauce

Lightly toast the muffins then spread them with butter. Grill the ham and place one piece on each muffin.  Poach the egg by bringing 4 cups of water to a boil, then reducing the heat to simmer.  Crack an egg into a soup ladle and gently lower the eggs, individually into the hot water.  Roll the eggs over to keep the whites close to the eggs. Cook to desired doneness (although, ideally, the egg yolk should still be somewhat runny).    Place the Canadian Bacon on the muffing, add the poached egg on top, and smother the whole thing with several tablespoons of Hollandaise sauce.  Serve

Hollandaise Sauce

Posted by meetsy in Egg Recipe, Egg Recipe History, sauces and tagged with
769px-Jehan_Georges_Vibert_-_The_Marvelous_Sauce,_ca._1890,_Albright-Knox_Art_Gallery

Jehan Georges Vibert “The Marvelous Sauce” 1890 (oil on wood) in the collection of the Albright Knox Art Gallery

There are many variations on how to make a good egg sauce.  Cook books and website will promote various techniques, some of which are benign, some which are completely wrong.  You do not want to even try to make the “easy” blender or food processor aided techniques to emulsify a sauce. The “simple blender Hollandaise” recipes (more often than not) result in a lumpy, odd textured sauce. The idea of making a Bernaise sauce by making a basic mayonnaise (same concept, both are an emulsification of egg yolk and oil), then heating it often results in a strange texture.  I’m not saying it cannot be done, but I am saying that I have yet to find anyone who has succeeded with these techniques.

Just like making mayonnaise, though, there are many recommendations.   Some cooking experts will tell you to start with nearly frozen butter, cut into small cubes, and let the butter melt as you blend it with the yolk over heat.  (It works. It can take a long time for the butter to melt, but the end result is fine.)  Some recipes make no distinction on the temperature of the butter, but instruct one to use the pan directly on low heat, and move it off the heat when needed to control the temperature.  Other recipes recommend an extra step, to start, by clarifying the butter first (which I prefer) and then mixing the oil into the yolk similar to how to make mayonnaise, only over a double boiler (bane marie).

Actually, these emulsified sauces are nearly identical to mayonnaise in technique and in texture. The only difference is the added heat during the making of the sauce, and the resulting warm sauce.   The reason to not make the sauce cold and then heat it, is that the emulsified cold sauce (except under the most gentle of heat) will break frightfully easy.

My husband insists that clarified butter is an unneeded step. That any butter will work, salted or not, although the only butter he usually has on hand is unsalted butter.  He has made Hollandaise and Bernaise sauces hundreds of times. I, on the other hand, have only made the sauce with a clarified butter, but have made mayonnaise many times, and I like a liquid oil to mix into the egg yolk, because I find it easier to control, and more familiar.   Since we both come up with the same basic end result, I suppose it’s only a matter of which directions you care to follow, and practice with. One thing is for certain, this is a sauce that you have to be prepared to practice, and make routinely, until you get the techniques foolproof, or nearly so. The key is to not get frustrated. Once you have the hang of it, its an easy, and elegant sauce to “whip up”.

I always use a bain marie (double boiler) to make a Hollandaise or Bernaise sauce.  The gentle heat slows the cooking time, and provides more even, gentle heat.  (A double boiler is also necessary if you need to “hold” the sauce to wait for the rest of the meal to finish cooking.) It also allows more time to fix a “break”.  And, it also reminds me to “go slow” and to not rush.

If the egg in the sauce begins to curdle, you can strain the sauce through several layers of cheese cloth, return the liquid to the pan, and add a new egg yolk, and try again.  Addition of some very, very cold water (a teaspoon to a tablespoon) can cool the sauce temperature down enough to stop the break.  (Then, whisk energetically to get the egg proteins to smooth out, and accept more oil.)   If a sauce breaks, it breaks.  Everyone has it happen, sometimes.  When it does, just start over, and go slower and you’ll find success.

How to Make Clarified Butter

Clarified butter, also known as drawn butter, (similar to ghee, which is heated at low temperatures longer) is butter that you have removed all residual whey, and milk solids from.  Butter, in the stick, from the carton, has a pale yellow color because milk solids (aka whey and leftover bits of milk solids) are still mixed in.  These remaining bits scorch at a lower temperature (250-300 degree smoke point) than the butter fat alone (325 to 450 degree smoke point).

To remove the whey and milk solids, melt the butter on very low heat until the butter simmers. As the butter simmers three layers will develop. The foamy scum on the surface (the whey) and a darker layer on the bottom of the pan (milk solids).  Carefully remove the foam with a spoon (and reserve for other uses. It’s fantastic on vegetables, or popcorn).  Then strain the butterfat through several layers of cheesecloth to remove the milk solids that have collected, and hardened at the bottom.   The clarified butter, in the center, will be an amber color.     This extra step will make a huge difference in sauce creation.   (Never use salted butter as the salt can cause the yolks to curdle.  Once salt is in butter, it cannot be removed.)

1lb of butter will yield, roughly, 1½ cups of clarified butter.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE RECIPE

This is a sauce that has a lemony flavor. It is butter and eggs emulsified over heat. The sauce is rich and smooth, but not oily. It is served hot over vegetables (asparagus, broccoli) red meats, fish, game, and eggs (like Eggs Benedict).

Hollandaise Sauce

½ cup clarified butter

3 raw egg yolks

4 tablespoons boiling water

1½ teaspoons heated lemon juice

Few grains cayenne

(2 tablespoons ice water, if needed)

Start with ¾ cup butter, and heat slowly on low heat.  Let the butter separate into whey, butter fat and milk solids.   Skim off whey, strain to remove milk solids.  Measure ½ cup butter, and set aside

In a separate pan heat 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and heat until boiling.  Remove from heat and strain to remove seeds and pulp.  Set aside.  Heat ½ cup of water.  Set aside

In a bowl separate egg yolks from whites.  Whisk yolks for several seconds to blend well. Put egg yolks into double boiler, over boiling water.   Whisk until they begin to thicken. Add ¼ teaspoon of water, and mix in well.  Add ¼ teaspoon more, until all is mixed in to the yolk.

Turn off heat, but let yolks remain in double boiler over simmering hot water.  Whisk the egg yolks constantly.  Add several drops of the warmed lemon juice. Whisk in well.  Then, add warm melted butter in a thin stream, in small amounts, and continue to whisk until the egg absorbs the butter, then add more.  The more completely the yolk can absorb the liquid the better.

Slow down if the emulsification starts to “break” (curdle), and add a small amount of ice water to cool the sauce, if it does start to break.

Keep adding a drop or two of lemon juice, and then small amounts of butter until it is all incorporated into the yolks.  The mixture should be creamy and smooth. Once all the butter, yolks, and lemon juice are one smooth, thick emulsification add cayenne.