Eggs Benedict

The hollandaise is way too involved. Try this — for 2 people — in a microwave : 1. Gently melt 1-2 TB butter along with salt and pepper (white if you must). 2. Swirl in 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp white wine. Heat high stopping every 15 seconds to whisk. 3. after 1 minute or less, add 1 tsp lemon juice and swirl.
VOILÀ.
[This was an award acceptance at the Cordon-Bleu — mainly because they missed the dash of white wine.]

An easier way to make the sauce - no blender or double boiler. Cut refrigerated butter into 8 pieces Put four of the pieces into a small sauce pan with the eggs, lemon juice, etc. Put the heat on low and beat everything together with a whisk. Keep beating and as soon as the butter is almost all melted add another piece and keep doing so. This will maintain the temperature and that is all there is to it. I was taught this 40 years ago and it always works.

Poaching eggs has always been an iffy thing. One method to consider is to break each egg onto a square foot sheet of Saran wrap and tie the four ends together. Then you can lift them all up and lower then into boiling water at the same time--and pull them out at the same time--all equally done and all wonderfully together.

We have eggs benedict most Sunday mornings, and have tried so many of the 30-40 different versions. I always beginning cooking the meat first, then make the hollandaise, then toast the muffins while poaching the eggs. Actually it makes it all come together perfectly, rather than having to re-heat anything.

The simplest way to poach an egg is to break each egg into a separate small bowl, bring the water, 1 tsp salt & 1 Tbs vinegar to a hard boil in a 10" pan, turn off the heat, gently pour 2 eggs at a time into the water & cover the pan. After 4 minutes transfer the eggs to a paper towel using a slotted spoon. This yields perfect poached eggs every time!

I appreciate all the comments. They have given me several ideas. The object of my affection loves eggs Benedict. I intend to learn how to prepare them so the day after we cross that threshold I can surprise her with breakfast in bed.... Wish me well :-)

Here's the problem with poaching eggs. There are actually TWO whites in every egg- the thin outer white and thicker inner white. The thin white is the 'flyaway' one. Remove it by using a sieve. Nice poached eggs halfway there

PLEASE stop using vinegar in the water. Someone somewhere started doing this and the rest of us end up eating eggs Benedict tasting like vinegar. It is not required and destroys the subtle egg/ham/butter flavour. I’ve stopped ordering them in restaurants because one never knows if they will taste like Eggs Benedict or Slat and Vinegar Chips.

The hollandaise is way too involved. Try this — for 2 people — in a microwave : 1. Gently melt 1-2 TB butter along with salt and pepper (white if you must). 2. Swirl in 1 egg yolk and 1 tsp white wine. Heat high stopping every 15 seconds to whisk. 3. after 1 minute or less, add 1 tsp lemon juice and swirl. VOILÀ. [This was an award acceptance at the Cordon-Bleu — mainly because they missed the dash of white wine.]

I had my version of Benedict for lunch today. I melt the butter in the microwave rather than in a double boiler. For the eggs, I crack them in a pan with some butter, then immediately add half a glass of water and then cover the pan to let them steam. That produces an egg with a firm white and still a liquid yolk. We don't have English muffins here in Latvia, where I live, so instead it was buttered toast. Much easier than poaching and delicious.

The classic is rather boring. I do VA country ham with tomato slices and a touch of mustard in the sauce; fresh crab with avocado slices and maybe a pinch of Old Bay; smoked salmon and water cress with mustard and dill added to the sauce. My guests go nuts!

This process ends up with room temperature eggs benedict. After taking the eggs out of the hot cooking water, an ice bath to stops the cooking. (If serving several people this allows you to have all the plates ready at the same time. You can even poach the eggs the night before, refrigerated) Leave the hot water on the stove. When toast, bacon, sauce are ready briefly reheat the eggs in the hot water. Remove with slotted spoon onto a paper towel and roll onto the muffin.

I found this to be the best way to poach eggs.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/03/how-to-poach-eggs-easy-way-poached-br...

As I understand it, migrating molecules from boiled plastic wrap is also iffy. Silicone egg-poaching pouches are reportedly more chemically-stable. They work very well; put a bit of butter in each poacher, put them in the pan of boiling water (lid on) until the butter melts, take them back out, break an egg in each, and return to the pan of boiling water (lid on) until the eggs are done. You use a butterknife to help the egg out of the poaching-pouch, but often it just slips out.

Insure that your blender cup is warm (not hot) with a rinse of hot tap water. Butter at 140 degrees F will make a perfect hollandaise.