Eggs Benedict is a classic American breakfast dish consisting of English muffins, Canadian bacon or ham, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. Its origin is disputed, but it has become a popular and sophisticated dish with many variations, including seafood and vegetarian options. The Egg McMuffin was inspired by Eggs Benedict and became a popular fast food breakfast item.
Eggs Benedict is a classic American breakfast and brunch dish consisting of lightly toasted English muffin halves covered with grilled Canadian bacon or ham and poached eggs. A dollop of hollandaise sauce adds the finishing touch to this delicious morning meal. There are several stories explaining the origin of this famous specialty dish.
One historical account states that Eggs Benedict were invented at Delmonico’s Restaurant in Manhattan, New York in the 1860s. Regular customers Mr. And Mrs. LeGrand Benedict wanted to try something new and discussed different options with the Delmonico’s chef, Charles Ranhofer. At Mrs. Benedict’s suggestion, Chef Ranhofer made her a dish with poached eggs on toasted English muffins. He topped the eggs with a thin slice of ham, some hollandaise sauce and a truffle. Chef Ranhofer called this recipe “Eggs a’ la Benedick” in his 1894 cookbook, The Epicurean.
Another version credits the creation of Eggs Benedict to Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street broker who lived in New York, New York, in 1894. Apparently looking for a quick cure for his horrible hangover, Lemuel Benedict went at the restaurant of the new Waldorf-Austoria Hotel and ordered buttered toast topped with crispy bacon, a poached egg, and a dab of hollandaise sauce. The Waldorf chef at the time, the legendary Oscar Tschirky, was thrilled with the idea of this new breakfast dish. Chef Tschirky toyed with the recipe and eventually decided to replace the crispy bacon with Canadian bacon and English muffins replaced with toast. He liked his creation so much that he featured Eggs Benedict on his breakfast and brunch menus.
While we’ll never know which version is true, Eggs Benedict has proven to be a popular and sophisticated dish. Many different Eggs Benedict recipes have begun appearing in cookbooks across the nation. A simple Eggs Benedict dish simply requires cutting English muffins in half and toasting them until light brown. A piece of grilled Canadian bacon or ham is then placed on the English muffins. Then some hollandaise sauce is dabbed on top.
There are numerous variations of the traditional Eggs Benedict dish. The most common variant is the Florentine egg, which replaces the meat with spinach. Florentine eggs are often offered in restaurants as an alternative appetizer for ovo-lacto vegetarians.
Seafood Benedict, another popular variation, replaces the ham or bacon with shrimp, crab, scallops or lobster. Salmon Benedict, sometimes called Eggs Royale, replaces ham with smoked salmon. A similar recipe is the Pacific Northwest Eggs Benedict, which uses wild Alaskan smoked salmon and replaces the English muffins with crab cakes.
Eggs Benedict even inspired one of the most popular fast food breakfasts of all time. In 1972, Herb Peterson, a friend of Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s fast food restaurants, tried to create a “poor man’s version” of Kroc’s favorite breakfast dish. Peterson simply replaced the hollandaise sauce with a wedge of American cheese and called his dish the Egg McMuffin. It was mainly due to the popularity of the egg McMuffin that McDonald’s had a monopoly on the fast-food breakfast market until the mid-1980s.
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