Eggs Benedict
From Free net encyclopedia
Image:74168264 d969be6db9.jpg Eggs Benedict is a dish consisting of slices of toast or halves of muffins (English muffins in American-English) topped with smoked bacon or ham (traditionally back bacon, which in America is called Canadian bacon), poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce.
Stories differ as to the origins of the dish. One version is that it was created in the late 1880s for financier LeGrand Benedict or his wife, by Charles Ranhofer, the chef of Delmonico's restaurant in New York City after one of the Benedicts complained there was nothing new on the menu. However, Ranhofer's only mention of "Benedict" in his comprehensive 1894 cookbook, covering thirty years' worth of Delmonico's fare, relates to a large, marinated, roasted ham.
Other sources state it was the result of an order placed by stockbroker Lemuel Benedict one morning in 1894 at the Waldorf Hotel when he had a hangover. Benedict claimed in a New Yorker interview shortly before his death that his order of dry toast, crisp bacon, poached eggs and a side of hollandaise sauce had been noted, usurped and warped by Oscar Tschirky, maître d'hôtel there. Oscar substituted English muffins and Canadian bacon, and added truffles.
Some erroneously believe it is named after the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold, since the dish is English underneath, if prepared with an english muffin.
The dish is the source of American actor Dirk Benedict's stage name, supposedly adopted on the suggestion of his agent whilst searching for something more suitable for Hollywood than 'Niewoehner', his family name.
Eggs Benedict may have inspired McDonalds to create the Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich, which approximates the dish by substituting a circular, hard-cooked egg for the poached egg, and adding piece of American cheese Template:Ref.
There is now an Eggs Benedict XVI, created to honor the German background of the recently elected pope. Sauerbraten or sausage and rye bread are the eggs' accompaniments.
Eggs Florentine is a common variation of Eggs Benedict which replaces the bacon with sauteed spinach.
A version of Artichokes Benedict has been created for the South Beach Diet, substituting cooked fresh artichokes for the muffins and using a mock hollandaise sauce to create a breakfast that is lower in carbohydrates and cholesterol than the original.
Notes
- Template:Note Additional differences: traditional Eggs Benedict are open-faced, while an Egg McMuffin has the other half of the toasted and buttered English muffin on top. The circular egg is created by cracking up to 8 whole eggs into a set of individual "egg rings" on a griddle, where the bottom of the egg is then fried. At the same time, the rings are covered with a metal plate that has a funnel on the top. Water is added to the funnel and flows through a pinhole at the bottom, steaming the tops of the eggs until they are solid.
See also
External links
- Eggs Benedict Recipe
- Who Cooked That Up? page on origin of the dish with a recipe
- Eggs Benedict New York site that has recipes, reviews and comments on many Eggs Benedicts in New York