Eggs Benedict
I saw an amusing article on CNN today. It seems that scientists in the U.K. have been working on a way to help people cook the perfect boiled egg. It is still in development, but the intent is to use heat sensitive ink that will appear when the egg has reached the perfect desired doneness. Pretty clever, but limited to boiling unforunately.
But this reminded me of a great dish I love to prepare, and not only for breakfast: Eggs Benedict. Poached eggs on toasted English muffin with ham and Hollandaise sauce…that is one hearty breakfast! It’s not exactly what you would have when you are counting calories, or reducing fat, but like everything else, once in a while is not harmful!
The recipe calls for English muffins, eggs to poach, thinly sliced ham or bacon, and the sauce. The sauce ingredients are: 3 egg yolks, a small amountof vinegar or lemon juice, half a cup of unsalted butter (salted works fine; just don’t add salt at the end), a small amount of cayenne pepper, half teaspoon of salt, and 4 tablespoons of boiling water (boil a larger amount, so it stays hot). You can also add some tarragon to the sauce at the end, which makes it close to a Bearnaise sauce.
I will trust that you know how to toast English muffins, so I will limit myself to explaining the technique of poaching eggs, as well as making the sauce. The sauce I will leave until last, as you really need to serve it as soon as it is made.
Poaching an egg involves cooking it in hot water — NOT boiling — until the white is fully cooked, and the yolk is as runny or hard as desired. The egg is removed from the shell to cook it, as opposed to simple boiled eggs, which allows for a quicker cooking of the whites without overcooking the yolk. This is what makes a nice, runny yolk, which is greatest part of the pleasure of Eggs Benedict, in my opinion. But removing it from the shell presents some challenges, such as keeping the egg together while it cooks, and determining doneness.
Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to make sure you get the perfect result.
1. Make sure you use a large enough pot, with enough water. You do not want the temperature of the water to drop when you add the egg or eggs. I usually use a little less than a gallon of water for two eggs at a time.
2. Heat the water to just under boiling. Bubbles will work against us, as they will move the egg around, causing it to fall apart.
3. Add vinegar to the water. This help quickly coagulate the egg white once it hits the water. Since we won’t be using a high heat and rolling boil to cook the eggs, we want some other way to start the solidifying process, and 4 or 5 tablespoons of vinegar per gallon will do the trick.
4. Crack your eggs into small bowls, one egg per bowl. You do not want to crack the eggs and drop them into the water: this would cause them to break apart immediately. When you are ready for an egg, take the bowl and lower it to the water, and slide the egg in gently. Some people like to have the water swirling to make a whirlpool that will trap the egg; I don’t bother with this, but you might want to try it.
90 seconds to two minutes will make a nice, slightly runny poached egg. If you add too many eggs at a time you may need to increase this time as the water temperature may have decreased, especially if the eggs were cold. To remove the eggs you can use a soup ladle or serving spoon; I have a ladle with slits in it to allow the water to drain. I can drop the egg right onto the toasted English muffin without drenching the muffin with water.
Now, to make the Hollandaise sauce, you will need a new technique, called a double boiling. This involves having one pot with boiling water, and another one sitting on top of it with the item to be cooked. (There are double boilers that you can buy, but a metal bowl on top of a pot works perfectly well.) This is used when you want very gentle heating. Typically eggs and chocolate are treated in this fashion, as high heat may not be desirable in all applications. If you do not have the means to double boil, do not worry; you will simpy have to be really careful not to overcook the eggs, removing them from the heat frequently.
To begin, start melting your butter in a small sauce pan or pot.
Now, seperate your eggs, and put the yolks in the metal bowl or top of the double boiler. Have your boiling water at the ready as well. (You can just microwave a large glass of water for this.) Put the bowl on top of the boiler and begin to whisk the egg yolks with a wire whisk. A fork will work, but it will take longer. Once the yolks begin to thicken, add the first of the four tablespoons of boiling water. Continue to whisk, and add the remaining water, one tablespoon at a time, continuing to whisk. Add the lemon juice or vinegar, and remove the yolk from the heat.
Now comes the touchy part. You will need to continue beating or whisking the eggs while you very slowly drizzle in the melted butter. It is extremely important that you not do this too quickly. Everything we have done to this point has been with idea of slowly warming the eggs without making them coagulate. If you want to see what happens when you heat eggs quickly, just look at scambled eggs — not the result you are looking for with Hollandaise. As you drizzle the butter in, continue whisking. This will keep the temperature even, and will help avoid hot spots that will leave you with buttery scrambled eggs. Lastly, add the cayenne pepper, and salt (if needed). Mix these in, and serve over your poached eggs on toast. And there you have it: Eggs Benedict!
I would not want you to think that Hollandaise sauce is limited to poached eggs, either. It also makes a great topping for salmon, and it works really nicely with asparagus. In fact, anything that has a mild but distinctive taste will be a good candidate for Hollandaise, which is at once both rich and mild. If you come up with a great use for Hollandaise that you never heard of, please tell me, as I am always looking for more tasty ideas to try!
Yours in Good Taste,
Erik Christensen