Eggs Benedict

I remember one time we went to a fancy restaurant for breakfast as a family when I was quite young, and there was eggs benedict on the menu. I was confused. It wasn't Christmas morning, we weren't still in our pajamas at 11:30, and we weren't already half-full from eating cherry chocolates. This wasn't the appropriate time! Didn't they know that eggs benedict were reserved for only one hallowed day a year? Nothing is sacred anymore.

To say that eggs benedict on Christmas morning is traditional in my family is an understatement: it's institutional. It's in our veins. We've experiemented on it a few times, often with questionable results. This is pretty straightforward, but it's good, and it conjures happy emotions and memories of childlike wonder (well, maybe it won't for you, but it sure does for me).



Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

• High-quality English muffins, split apart
  
• Large eggs (as many eggs as muffin halves)
• Chicken broth, enough to fill a wide, shallow pan for poaching
  
• Thickly sliced Canadian bacon (1-2 slices for each muffin half)
• Hollaindaise sauce (click here for a recipe)
• salt and pepper, to taste
  

The trick with eggs benedict is that everything needs to be ready at the same time. It's good to have a different person manning each component so they can all be perfectly timed (or at least that's how we do it in my family).

for the eggs
Bring the chicken broth to a broil in the poaching pan. Reduce heat to let it simmer. Crack the eggs, and gently slip them just under the broth's surface. Poach until the yolk is the desired doneness (usually just a few minutes--watch them closely).


for the English muffins
Place the muffin halves on a cookie sheet and broil them in the oven or broiler until the tops are just golden and slighly crispy, just a few minutes, also. You only want the very top layer to be crispy: the rest should still be soft.



for the Canadian bacon
Heat a skillet or large, flat plan to medium high heat and sear the edges of the ham. It's usually already cooked, so you don't have to worry about cooking it thoroughly--just heat it and give it some texture.

for the Hollaindiase sauce
Whether you're making it from scratch or a mix, do prepare it to be the last thing completed--right at the moment when you assemble and serve.

Assemble them by placing the bacon atop the muffin, then the poached egg, then the hollaindaise sauce. Enjoy, then wait until Christmas next year to enjoy again.

Hollandaise Sauce

My family is a family of traditional foods: clam chowder on Christmas Eve, grape sherbet on Memorial Day, prime rib on New Years, pecan pie on Dad's birthday, Grandma's rolls any- and all the time, and eggs benedict on Christmas morning. I love tradition, but I am all for spicing it up a little every now and again. And in all honesty, I didn't even think it that big a stretch when I declared that I would be making the hollandaise sauce from scratch this year. I thought people would enjoy the nice touch, seeing as how every other year of my congniscent life we have simply reconstituted yellow powder. No, they were not happy. Some members of my family have stricter definitions of "tradition" than do it. I was accused of trying to ruin Christmas, insult 30 years of family tradition, and give salmonella to my pregnant sister. Then comes the ringer, "I have waitied a full year for eggs benedict, and if you ruin them, I will be furious!" I was a little taken aback. I mean, come on! Homemade is always better than powder because there's extra love in it, right? That's what I figured.

Conclusion. It was good: substantially zingier than the powdered stuff, and the family was happy. Christmas was not ruined, and all rejoiced.



Homemade Hollandiase Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 scant tablespoons lime juice
  
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• salt and pepper, to taste

Carefully melt the butter in a saucepan over med-low heat.

Meanwhile, beat the lime juice, egg yolks, cream, salt and pepper in a bowl. Slowly whisk a tablespoon at a time of the melted butter into the egg mixture (adding the eggs to the butter will cause them to scramble; this way keeps the mixture smooth) until you've put in 4 -6 tablespoons.

Whisking the whole time, add the egg mixture to the rest of the melted butter. Whisk until heated through and just barely bubbling--maybe 30 seconds or so (don't let it boil, or it will kind of curdle). Serve immediately.