Eggs Benedict

Name: Eggs Benedict
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 175 g unsalted butter; 3 egg yolks; 1 tbsp lemon juice, plus more to taste; 1 tbsp water; 1 pinch cayenne pepper; salt; 1 tbsp white vinegar, for the poaching water; 8 slice Canadian bacon, or back bacon; 4 English muffins, split; 8 eggs, as fresh as possible; 1 tbsp chives, finely chopped

35 min
Prep 10 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4
medium

Start cooking

Toasted English muffins topped with Canadian bacon, softly poached eggs and a warm, lemony hollandaise, finished with chives.

Method

1
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, then keep it warm off the heat. It should be hot but not sizzling.
2
Fill a wide, deep frying pan with about 8 cm of water, add the vinegar and bring it to a bare simmer, with small bubbles rising slowly.
3
Meanwhile, set a heatproof bowl over a medium saucepan holding 3 cm of barely simmering water, without the bowl touching the water.
4
Whisk the yolks, lemon juice and water in the bowl until thick and pale, and the whisk leaves trails.
5
Take the bowl off the heat and whisk in the warm butter a few drops at a time, then in a thin stream, until the sauce is thick and glossy.
6
Season the hollandaise with salt, cayenne and more lemon juice. Keep it warm over the pan of hot water with the heat off.
7
Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan over medium heat until lightly browned on both sides.
8
Toast the muffin halves until golden and keep them warm with the bacon.
9
Crack each egg into a small cup. Stir the poaching water into a gentle swirl and slide in 4 eggs, one at a time.
10
Poach until the whites are set and the yolks still wobble when nudged with a spoon.
11
Lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon onto kitchen paper, then poach the remaining 4 eggs the same way.
12
Top each muffin half with a slice of bacon and a poached egg, spoon over the hollandaise and scatter with chives.

Notes

If the hollandaise looks greasy or starts to split, whisk in a tablespoon of warm water off the heat. If it fully separates, whisk a fresh yolk in a clean bowl and slowly whisk the broken sauce into it.
Fresh eggs hold together best when poached. Older eggs have thinner whites that spread in the water.
The yolks in the sauce and the eggs are only lightly cooked. Use pasteurized eggs for young children, pregnant people or anyone with a weakened immune system.

Equipment

Small saucepan, Heatproof bowl, Medium saucepan, Whisk, Wide deep frying pan, Frying pan, Slotted spoon, Toaster

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