Eggs Benedict is a common
American breakfast or
brunch
Brunch is a meal eaten between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks (typically champagne or a cocktail). The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word ''brunch'' is a portmanteau of ''breakfast'' a ...
dish, consisting of two halves of an
English muffin
An English muffin is a small, round and flat yeast-leavened (sometimes sourdough) bread which is commonly round and tall. It is generally sliced horizontally and served toasted.David, Elizabeth (1977). ''English Bread and Yeast Cookery''. Lond ...
, each topped with
Canadian bacon
''Canadian Bacon'' is a 1995 comedy film written, produced, and directed by Michael Moore which satirizes Canada–United States relations along the Canada–United States border. The film stars an ensemble cast featuring Alan Alda, John Candy ...
, a
poached egg
A poached egg is an egg that has been cooked, outside the shell, by poaching (or sometimes steaming), as opposed to simmering or boiling. This method of preparation can yield more delicately cooked eggs than cooking at higher temperatures such as ...
, and
hollandaise sauce
Hollandaise sauce ( or ; ), also called Dutch sauce, is a mixture of egg yolk, melted butter, and lemon juice (or a white wine or vinegar reduction). It is usually seasoned with salt, and either white pepper or cayenne pepper.
It is well known a ...
. It was popularized in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Origin and history
There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of eggs Benedict.
Delmonico's
Delmonico's is the name of a series of restaurants that operated in New York City, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District of Manhattan. The original version was widely recognized as the United States ...
in
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
says on its menu that "Eggs Benedict was first created in our ovens in 1860." One of its former chefs,
Charles Ranhofer
Charles Ranhofer (November 7, 1836 in Saint-Denis, France – October 9, 1899 in New York) was the chef at Delmonico's Restaurant in New York from 1862 to 1876 and 1879 to 1896. Ranhofer was the author of ''The Epicurean'' (1894),Charles Ranhof ...
, also published the recipe for ''Eggs à la Benedick'' in 1894.
In an interview recorded in the "Talk of the Town" column of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' in 1942, the year before his death, Lemuel Benedict, a retired
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
stock broker, said 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
Oscar Tschirky (1866 – November 6, 1950) was a Swiss-American restaurateur who was maître d'hôtel of Delmonico's Restaurant and subsequently the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, New York, United States. He was widely known as "Oscar of the ...
, the ''
maître d'hôtel
The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...
'', 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
An English muffin is a small, round and flat yeast-leavened (sometimes sourdough) bread which is commonly round and tall. It is generally sliced horizontally and served toasted.David, Elizabeth (1977). ''English Bread and Yeast Cookery''. Lond ...
for the toast.
[ 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.'']
![Flickr sekimura 2390523527--Smoked salmon eggs Benedict](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Flickr_sekimura_2390523527--Smoked_salmon_eggs_Benedict.jpg)
A later 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
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' food columnist
Craig Claiborne
Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 January 22, 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for ''The New York Times'', he was also the author of numerous cookbooks and ...
, which included a recipe he said he had received through his uncle, a friend of the commodore. Commodore Benedict's recipe—by way of Montgomery—varies greatly from Ranhofer's version, particularly in the hollandaise sauce preparation—calling for the addition of a "hot, hard-cooked egg and ham mixture".
Variations
![Eggs Florentine1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Eggs_Florentine1.jpg)
Several variations of Eggs Benedict exist, involving replacing any component except the egg:
* Avocado Toast Eggs Benedict – substitutes
toast
Toast most commonly refers to:
* Toast (food), bread browned with dry heat
* Toast (honor), a ritual in which a drink is taken
Toast may also refer to:
Places
* Toast, North Carolina, a census-designated place in the United States
Books
* '' ...
in place of the muffin and adds sliced avocado.
* California Eggs Benedict – adds sliced
Hass avocado
The Hass avocado is a variety of avocado with dark green, bumpy skin. It was first grown and sold by Southern California mail carrier and amateur horticulturist Rudolph Hass, who also gave it his name.
The Hass avocado is a large-sized fruit weig ...
. Variations may include sliced tomato instead of Canadian bacon.
* Eggs Atlantic
– substitutes
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
which may be
smoked
Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and ''lapsang souchong'' tea are often smoked.
In Europe, alder is the tradi ...
, in place of Canadian bacon.
* Eggs Balmoral – substitutes
haggis
Haggis ( gd, taigeis) is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now an a ...
in place of Canadian bacon.
* Eggs Blackstone – substitutes
streaky bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato san ...
in place of Canadian bacon and adds a
tomato
The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...
slice.
* Eggs Blanchard – substitutes
béchamel sauce in place of Hollandaise.
* Eggs Chesapeake (Crab Eggs Benedict, Crab Cakes Benedict) – substitutes a Maryland blue
crab cake
A crab cake is a variety of fishcake that is popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powder), eggs, and ...
in place of Canadian bacon.
* Eggs Cochon (Eggs Cochon de Lait) – substitutes pork "debris" (slow roasted pork shredded in its own juices) in place of Canadian bacon,
buttermilk biscuit in place of the English muffin. Served in
restaurants.
* Eggs Florentine – adds
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...
, sometimes substituted in place of the Canadian bacon. Older versions of eggs Florentine add spinach to poached or
shirred eggs
Shirred eggs, also known as baked eggs, are eggs that have been baked in a flat-bottomed dish; the name originates from the type of dish in which it was traditionally baked. Shirred eggs are considered a simple and reliable dish that can be easil ...
.
* Eggs Hebridean – a Scottish variety, substitutes
Black pudding
, type =
, course =
, place_of_origin = Great Britain and Ireland
, region =England, Ireland, Scotland
, associated_cuisine = United Kingdom and Ireland
, creator =
, year =
, mintime =
, maxtime =
, served = Hot, occasionally ...
in place of the Canadian bacon.
* Eggs Hussarde – substitutes
Holland rusks in place of the English muffin and adds
Bordelaise sauce
Bordelaise sauce is a classic French sauce named after the Bordeaux region of France, which is famous for its wine. The sauce is made with dry red wine, bone marrow, butter, shallots and sauce demi-glace. ''Sauce marchand de vin'' ("wine-merch ...
.
[ Notes: ''Located in , ]Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
.''
* Eggs Mornay – substitutes
Mornay sauce
A Mornay sauce is a béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese added. Some variations use different combinations of Gruyère, Emmental cheese, white cheddar or even Parmesan cheese. A Mornay sauce made with cheddar is commonly used to make m ...
in place of the Hollandaise.
*Eggs Neptune – substitutes
crab meat
Crab meat or crab marrow is the meat found within a crab. It is used in many cuisines around the world, prized for its soft, delicate and sweet taste. Crab meat is low in fat and provides around of food energy per serving. Brown crab (''Canc ...
in place of Canadian bacon.
* Eggs Omar (Steak Benedict) substitutes a small
steak
A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, ...
in place of Canadian bacon and sometimes replaces the Hollandaise with
béarnaise.
*Eggs Trivette – adds
Creole mustard
Creole mustard is a condiment found most commonly in the Southeastern region of the United States, specifically Louisiana. A staple in New Orleans-style cuisine, Creole mustard is a blend of Spanish, French, African, and German influences.
The ...
to the Hollandaise and a topping of
crayfish
Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...
.
* Eggs Woodhouse – includes two eggs and
artichoke
The globe artichoke (''Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green articho ...
hearts,
creamed spinach, bechamel sauce,
Iberico ham,
black truffle
''Tuber melanosporum'', called the black truffle, Périgord truffle or French black truffle, is a species of truffle native to Southern Europe. It is one of the most expensive edible mushrooms in the world.
Taxonomy
Italian naturalist Carlo Vi ...
and
beluga caviar
Beluga caviar is caviar consisting of the roe (or eggs) of the beluga sturgeon ''Huso huso''. The fish is found primarily in the Caspian Sea, which is bordered by Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. It can also be found in th ...
. The recipe is featured in the book ''How To Archer'', inspired by the television series ''
Archer
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...
'' on
FXX
FXX is an American basic cable channel owned by the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company through FX Networks, LLC. It is the partner channel of FX, with its programming focusing on original and acquired comedy series and fea ...
.
* Eggs Zenedict – adds toasted
scone
A scone is a baked good, usually made of either wheat or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of th ...
and
peameal bacon
Peameal bacon (also known as cornmeal bacon) is a wet-cured, unsmoked back bacon made from trimmed lean boneless pork loin rolled in cornmeal. It is found mainly in Ontario. Toronto pork packer William Davies, who came to Canada from England i ...
smothered in sundried tomato Hollandaise. A specialty of restaurants in the defunct Canadian retail chain
Zellers
Zellers was a Canadian discount department retail chain and is currently a brand name owned by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Founded in 1931 in London, Ontario, in later decades it was based in Brampton, Ontario. Zellers was acquired by HBC i ...
.
* Huevos Benedictos – adds sliced avocado or Mexican
chorizo
Chorizo (, from Spanish ; similar to but distinct from Portuguese ) is a type of pork cured meat originating from the Iberian Peninsula.
In Europe, chorizo is a fermented, cured, smoked meat, which may be sliced and eaten without cooking, or ...
, topped with salsa (such as
''salsa roja'' or
''salsa brava'') and Hollandaise sauce.
* Irish Benedict – substitutes
corned beef
Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...
or
Irish bacon in place of Canadian bacon.
* New Jersey Benedict – substitutes Taylor
pork roll
Pork roll is a processed meat commonly available in New Jersey and neighboring states.
It was developed in 1856 by John Taylor of Trenton, and sold as "Taylor's Prepared Ham" until 1906.
Though since then food labeling regulations require Tay ...
in place of Canadian bacon.
See also
*
List of breakfast foods This is a list of notable breakfast foods from A to Z. Breakfast is the meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking a day's work. Among English speakers, breakfast can be used to refer to th ...
*
List of brunch foods
This is a list of brunch foods and dishes. Brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch eaten usually during the late morning but it can extend to as late as 2 pm and 8 pm on the East Coast, although some restaurants may extend the hours to a l ...
*
List of egg dishes
This is a list of notable egg dishes and beverages. Egg as food, Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including bird egg, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have been eaten by humans for thousands of years.Kenneth F. Kiple, ...
*
List of foods named after people
This is a list of foods and dishes named after people.
A
* Chicken, Poularde Adelina Patti – named for 19th-century opera singer Adelina Patti.
* Woodcock salmis Agnès Sorel – one of the dishes Agnès Sorel (1422–1450) is reputed ...
*
List of regional dishes of the United States
The cuisine of the United States includes many regional or local dishes, side dishes and foods. This list includes dishes and foods that are associated with specific regions of the United States.
__TOC__
Regional dishes of the United States
...
Footnotes
References
External links
*
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.
{{Lists of prepared foods
Egg dishes
American breakfast foods
American cuisine