Eggs Benedict Recipe
Smoked back bacon, soft poached eggs, toasted muffin & hollandaise sauce
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Ingredients
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Back Bacon & Muffins
Poached Eggs
Hollandaise Sauce
Garnish & Finishing
Method
Back Bacon & Muffins
- 1
Toast and cook
Split the English muffins and toast until golden. Spread 1/2 tbs unsalted butter on each toasted half while hot. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tsp neutral oil. When shimmering, add the smoked back bacon slices in a single layer and pan-fry 2–3 minutes per side until warmed through and slightly crisp at edges. Keep warm on a plate covered with foil.
Poached Eggs
- 2
Prepare poaching water
Fill a wide, shallow saucepan with about 2 liters of water and bring to a gentle simmer (small bubbles, not a rolling boil). Stir in 2 tablespoons white vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat so the surface is barely moving.
- 3
Poach eggs
Crack each egg into a small ramekin or cup. Create a gentle whirlpool in the simmering water with a spoon and slip one egg at a time into the center. Poach 3–3.5 minutes for a runny yolk or 4 minutes for slightly firmer. For multiple eggs, poach in batches of 2–3 depending on pan size to avoid crowding. Use a slotted spoon to gently lift eggs, drain on a paper towel briefly, and keep in a warm bowl of water (turned off, covered) while finishing remaining eggs.
Hollandaise Sauce
- 4
Melt and clarify butter
Gently melt 170 g unsalted butter in a small saucepan over low heat until foaming stops and solids separate. For clarified butter, skim foam and discard white solids, keeping clear butterfat warm. Alternatively, use melted whole butter but warm and carefully spoon off milk solids if desired.
- 5
Whisk yolks
In a heatproof bowl (or the bowl of a double boiler) whisk 4 egg yolks briskly with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard until slightly thickened.
- 6
- 7
Emulsify butter
Remove bowl from heat. Very gradually drizzle the warm clarified/melted butter into the yolks while whisking continuously to create a smooth, emulsified sauce. Start drop by drop, then a thin stream as the sauce thickens. If too thick, whisk in up to 1 teaspoon warm water to loosen. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper or a pinch of cayenne. Taste and adjust lemon, salt, or pepper as needed. Keep the hollandaise warm by placing the bowl in a warm (not hot) water bath, whisking occasionally until ready to serve.
Assembly & Garnish
- 8
Assemble Eggs Benedict
Place toasted muffin halves on plates (2 halves per serving). Top each muffin half with one slice of smoked back bacon. Using a slotted spoon, place one poached egg onto each bacon-topped muffin half (1 egg per half). Spoon about 2–3 tablespoons of warm hollandaise sauce over each egg so it runs slightly down the sides.
- 9