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Expert tips on how to make eggs Benedict at home

THIS COULD BE YOURS! (Courtesy Nadine Kalinauskas)
THIS COULD BE YOURS! (Courtesy Nadine Kalinauskas)

Sometimes tackling your favourite brunch order at home can be even more enjoyable — or at least more rewarding — than ordering it at your favourite a standing-room-only breakfast spot.

And while eggs Benedict is a huge crowd pleaser at diners across the country, the dish still intimidates many home cooks.

We asked Chef Christine Cushing for some tips on making the breakfast favourite at home.

Ready? OK. Deep breaths. You can do this. You no longer need fear the hollandaise sauce, friends.

Making eggs Benedict: hollandaise sauce

Hollandaise sauce is often a stumbling block for home chefs.

Cushing reassures us that making it from scratch is not as scary as it seems at first.

“Hollandaise is basically like making a mayonnaise,” she says. “The key is to add the ingredients together very gradually as you need to blend together melted butter and egg yolks that will normally separate.”

She adds, “Always use clarified butter — that is with the milk solids removed.”

Cushing’s magic ratio is 3 tablespoons of water for 3 egg yolks. Whisk them together in a stainless steel bowl over a hot water bath “until fluffy and ribbons form.”

Then, very gradually, while still whisking, add the warm clarified butter.

“These two ingredients need to be at a similar temperature,” Cushing says. “That will ensure proper blending.”

Add up to six ounces of butter, “or as much as it takes to get a smooth, creamy, but not-too-thick consistency.”

To finish it off, add fresh lemon juice to taste and season with salt and pepper.

(Confession: the only time we’ve failed at making hollandaise sauce at my house — we use Julia Child’s no-fail recipe — is when we discovered we were out of lemons. Don’t forget to add the lemon juice.)

Hollandaise sauce will split if it cools, so Cushing offers two suggestions for keeping it intact.

Either place your sauce over a pot of hot-but-not-boiling water while you get your eggs ready to serve, to try keeping it warm in a thermos.

“I have had some success with that technique,” Cushing says. “Emphasis on ‘some.’”

Don’t let it cool too much, but don’t serve the hollandaise too hot either, or it will thin out or curdle, warns Julia Child in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 

Troubleshooting the sauce

What if our brunch nightmares are realized and the sauce separates?

“Take a separate bowl and pour in two tablespoons of boiling water,” Cushing instructs. “Very gradually whisk in the broken sauce until it all blends back together.”

If the sauce is too thick, just adjust with a splash more water and serve immediately.

Child suggests the following restaurant technique if the sauce needs to stay warm for a long period of time: beat a tablespoon or two of béchamel sauce into the hollandaise — or add a teaspoon of cornstarch into the eggs when you first start making the sauce.

Poaching the eggs

Poaching eggs doesn’t take long, so have a paper towel laid out, ready for draining, before you begin.

“Use a shallow — no higher than 3" —  small saucepan and don't poach more than four eggs at a time,” Cushing advises.. “Water should be just below simmer or eggs will fall apart.”

“Add 1 ablespoon of vinegar to about 3 cups water, then break eggs into a small bowl and create a little vortex by swirling water with back of wooden spoon. Lay the eggs in one by one and poach very gently for 3 minutes.”

Use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs from the water, and place them on a paper towel to drain.

Both Julia Child and Christine Cushing use the vinegar-in-water trick, so it’s worth giving a try.

If you’re feeling extra adventurous, try another one of Child’s poaching tricks: boil an egg for 10 seconds before cracking it into the water.

Watch a video from Chef Ben Starr on how to get it right below.

Choosing the base

We asked Cushing what breakfast carb is best as a base for eggs Benedict: an English muffin? Buttermilk biscuit? Croissants? Bagel?

Cushing prefers the classic English muffin, “because those nooks and crannies keep the texture and create the perfect contrast.”

And while biscuits are also a worthy contender — I’ve had great success with this recipe — she recommends resisting the allure of the flaky croissant — and not just because it gets too soggy.

“The croissant is the star of its own show,” she says, “and I think it just falls apart and adds too much butter to an already butter rich dish.”

Here’s how to make your own English muffins. (We made these Christmas morning. Recommended.)

Food 52/Tumblr
Food 52/Tumblr

What about the toppings?

Cushing loves spinach, some dill and crisp pancetta or peameal bacon on her eggs Benedict.

(I like tomato and avocado. My husband loves smoked salmon and dill.)

Cushing’s main advice is to “keep it simple and really taste the elegance of the combination and quality of ingredients.”

Biggest and most common mistakes

Look like a pro by being aware of the most common rookie mistakes.

According to Cushing, some of the most common mistakes include poaching the eggs for too long, not draining the eggs and making the biscuit of choice soggy, and missing the mark with the hollandaise sauce: either making it too far in advance or making it “too thick of gloppy.”

“Hollandaise should just gently coat the eggs, not bury them!” Cushing says.

What do you like on your Eggs Benedict? Have you had any success making your own from scratch?