Eggs Benedict with Homemade Hollandaise Sauce
>> Monday, September 19, 2011
This was yesterday's brunch at my house! Many people shy away from making this old classic because of the hollandaise sauce. Never fear--I have documented each step of the process so that you too can have this from scratch at your house. There really is nothing like a fresh, homemade hollandaise sauce....mmmm.
The traditional eggs benedict has a poached egg atop Canadian bacon on an english muffin before topping with the golden hollandaise sauce. In this version, I still make the classic sauce, but instead of an english muffin I used a homemade biscuit and strips of bacon. The biscuit was fluffy, tasty, and a nice change from the hard english muffin. The bacon provided a nice texture contrast, with it's mild crunchiness.
One thing I've always hated about the Canadian bacon is that it is usually too thick and chewy, and I think my enjoyment of the dish is partly lost when I am sitting there trying to chew down the piece of ham. By contrast, the bacon is thin, crisp, and disolves in your mouth. Perfection. All the same flavors are present, so for the purist who screams this isn't eggs benedict, substitute an english muffin if you may, but I guarantee this will not disappoint!
There are 4 steps to this dish: the biscuit, the bacon, the sauce, and the egg. I will go in order of preparation.
The Biscuit
Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c. plus 1 Tbs. half-and-half or whole milk
1 egg beaten with 2 tsp. water
Directions:
1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees.
3. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to combine. Add the butter pieces and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 1-second pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl.
4. Mix the beaten egg and the half-and-half in a separate cup. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Combine with a rubber spatula until large clumps form. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and lightly knead until it comes together.
5. Roll out the dough to about 1 1/2 inch thickness. Take a sharp knife and cut squares (and I use that term loosely--they can be odd shaped, rectangles, etc.) out of the dough. Just make a grid to create same sized squares/shapes to allow for even baking.
6. Using a pastry brush, or spoon if you don't have a brush, put the egg wash on top of each square--give it a good going over so it isn't dry on top, but not too much to have it running all over the place. A little running over the shortcake dough isn't going to hurt anything.
7. Place squares on a baking sheet and cook at 425 for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
The Bacon
1. If your bacon is frozen, put it, still packaged, in some lukewarm water. This is a trick I learned from Alton Brown. Works like a dream and way better than the microwave. It only takes about 10-15 minutes.
The Sauce
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 Tbs. tarragon vinegar or lemon juice
3 egg yolks
4 Tbs. boiling water, added one at a time
1/4 tsp. salt
cayenne to taste
(this recipe is from The Joy of Cooking)
Overview: Here is how the process works. You are going to take 3 egg yokes and place them OVER hot, NOT boiling water. Then you will gradually add 4 Tbs. of BOILING water, one at a time to the eggs. Remove from the heat and add in the vinegar or lemon juice that you already heated in the microwave prior to starting the sauce. Once combined, add the butter that you have kept warm. Done.
Directions:
1. While the bacon is cooking, get set up to make the hollandaise sauce. The number one way you can make yourself successful with this sauce is to have EVERYTHING set up prior to starting the sauce. This is because you literally cannot walk away from the eggs to get anything once you have started, because if you do you will kill the eggs and have to start all over again.
2. You will need 2 medium and 1 small sauce pans. Two will hold hot and boiling water, with the small one holding 1 stick of butter. For the hot water pan, only put in an inch of water. For the boiling water pan (pictured in the center), fill it halfway full so that it is easy to dip into with your tablespoon measuring spoon without having to tilt the pan or burn yourself. Notice the next picture that I have the measuring spoon already by the stove.
3. At this point, heat 1 1/2 Tbs. of tarragon vinegar or lemon juice in the microwave for 20 second and place it near the stove (pictured on the left).
4. While your water is heating up, separate three eggs into a bowl or top of a double boiler.
6. Once the eggs have thickened slightly, repeat the same process until you have added another 3 more tablespoons of boiling water to the eggs (4 total), stirring constantly.
7. Remove the top of the double boiler from the heat and slowly whisk in the warm vinegar or lemon juice.
8. Next slowly whisk in the butter. Add salt and cayenne at this point.
The (Poached) Egg
1. Using the same pan that you have the water boiling in, place two biscuit cutter rings.
2. Drop in eggs, one for each ring, and turn water down to medium heat.
3. Cook until desired hardness, 2-3 minutes for soft, longer for medium to hard. Using tongs, lift rings out of pan and take out eggs. I like to use a spatula used for turning fish, but a slotted spoon would work if the holes are small enough.
