Is there a truly French version of eggs Benedict, or is this dish — which has taken Paris by storm — just a copy of the American original? The basic recipe of poached eggs, Canadian bacon, English muffin and hollandaise sauce has been ‘Frenchified’ over the years. The most surprising variation, oeufs bénédictine, was created by the great chef Auguste Escoffier in 1903 and consists of truffled purée of cod topped by poached eggs and cream sauce!
Oeufs Bénédict / Eggs Benedict
Elle magazine, which boasts many superlative recipes, has three for oeufs Bénédict. The first is identical to the original except that bacon strips — ‘poitrine fumé’ in French, ‘streaky bacon’ in Britain — are used instead of Canadian bacon — ‘bacon’ (pronounced bah-KON) in French, ‘back bacon’ in Britain. The second is a veggie version that substitutes shiitake mushrooms and snow peas for the meat and adds some chives for le look. The third also leaves out the meat and instead inserts a potato pancake between the toasted muffin and the poached egg, adding a sprinkle of fresh thyme and chervil on top.
If you go out for brunch in Paris, you can find hollandaise-topped poached-eggs-on-a-muffin with smoked salmon and red caviar (Petrossian), Canadian bacon and spinach (Ralph Lauren), cured Basque ham and salad greens (Le Fumoir) or truffle shavings (Shangri-La). At Ladurée they dispense with the muffin and instead serve the eggs with smoked salmon and spinach on a toasted slice of brioche. Now how French is that?
One could also make the argument that, hollandaise sauce having been invented by the French, eggs Benedict is fundamentally a French-inspired dish. Nonetheless, the dish was reputedly born in New York City, although exactly when and where is unclear. The best known version has it that a certain Lemuel Benedict went to the Waldorf Hotel one morning in 1892 and asked for his eggs to be served this way — the problem being that the Waldorf didn’t actually open until 1893. Another version has a Mrs. LeGrand Benedict asking the chef at Delmonico’s restaurant to whip up something new for her lunch back in the 1860s. A third story involves a certain Commodore Benedict, a New York banker and yachtsman, but it’s not clear whether he thought up the dish or merely enjoyed it.
The recipe I’m posting today — just in time for Easter — is very close to the New York original. The first step is to make the hollandaise (with my mother’s foolproof recipe). The second is to toast the muffins and lightly fry the Canadian bacon. The eggs are then poached for 3-4 minutes in water with a dash of vinegar (which helps the white hold together). Et voilà. You can assemble your masterpiece.
Happy cooking.
