Eggs Benedict: A Breakfast Great

By Brad Shawgo

Wikipedia   

 On a recent episode of What We’re Thinking, Jake, Casey and Mason took on the most important meal of the day: Breakfast. The trio each gave their top breakfast items and honestly, it is hard to disagree with any of the culinary delights of the breakfast variety that they ranked. The classics like cereal, burritos, pancakes, and french toast all received a ranking but also making the ranking were multi-component, all-in-one breakfasts, such as biscuits and gravy, breakfast bake, and huevo rancheros. Also getting a lot of love from the boys throughout the episode were several central Illinois and Peoria, IL restaurants where they have ate some of their favorite breakfast items. You can watch their full rankings and conversation below:

However, there is one omission (it was an honorable mention from Mason but not officially in anyone's top 5) that I want to throw some love at and make its status as a breakfast item very clear. The multi-component dish, Eggs Benedict is a certified breakfast hall of famer. Just from a breakfast food standpoint, what’s not to like about it? At its most traditional self, it’s everything you want in a hearty breakfast. 

At its base is your bread. When you start something with an English muffin, you know you're in for a good time. The toasted bread item, with its coarse and firm consistency, is the perfect baked good to hold what is about to be stacked on top. 

Next is the meat. This is the part of the dish where substitutions are easiest. You really can have any meat you want here. A pork product is the most commonly used but it’s not out of the question to see steak as the protein of choice. There are even chicken and fish variations out there as well. For now let’s just stick with the simple but effective Canadian bacon. Because of its perfect size, Canadian bacon makes for a great alternative to ham or bacon.  

Enter the title character. The egg. The poached egg. This is where things start to get a little fancy and the cooking difficulty is raised a notch. Poaching the egg gives the yolk its best chance to be uncooked, perfectly protected in the cloud-like structure of the egg white. This turns a lot of people off but for Eggs Benedict to work, the yolk needs to be able run. 

But what separates Eggs Benedict from just breakfast items stacked together for a quicker eat is the hollandaise sauce. Hollandaise sauce can seem a bit intimidating and the yolk factor isn't for everyone but a major part of the sauce is butter and what's not to like about that? A touch of lemon juice is mixed in with the yolk and butter making for an even more delicate and flavorful sauce. Hollandaise is a solid sauce but, however, does need to go with everything it covers to be fully effective. 

It’s when the hollandaise is poured over the other components, a fork and knife are used to cut through the four layer dish and everything is eaten together that makes Eggs Benedict a breakfast great. The way the hollandaise interacts with the egg and its yolk, the way the two together soak into the English muffin, all aided by the salty but slightly smokey canadian bacon makes for an experience rather than just a bite. Everything just works together so well. It truly is a work of art. 

I would wax poetic and sound half deranged explaining a bite of Eggs Benedict but I am also fully aware that it has some things working against it. It’s an absolute zero on the convenience scale. You can’t unwrap it and eat as you walk out the door. You can’t grab a bowl and spoon, pour some milk over it and be eating asap.You can’t pop it in the microwave for a full 60 seconds and have a hot, ready to go meal. There are several steps, several cooking components and a messy kitchen when it’s all said and done. Because of this, even restaurant’s have a hard time justifying its place on a menu.

Eggs Benedict also just may be a little too unapproachable for its own good. With words like benedict, english, poached and hollandaise, it sort of comes as a dish for royalty only. It’s really not though. In fact, the first time I had it was at a truck stop buffet. To go along with that, when I make it at home, I fry the egg because for me, a poached egg is a wasted egg. I also wouldn’t enter my hollandaise into competition anytime soon. 

So what is it that makes it a certified breakfast hall of famer as I stated earlier? If you can look past the fancy words and the all yolk, along with finding a restaurant or finding the time and patience to make it yourself, then you may find it really does have a lot going for it. It really is packed with a lot of qualities we like in our food.

It takes a version of each component that works the best for the overall dish. A sturdier bread, the right size of meat, the way the egg is prepared and a sauce that intersects so well with everything else. That’s what is so impressive. That’s why I say silly things like ‘work of art’ or ‘experience’. The way these unique items come together and elevate each other to such a high degree gives eggs benedict an extra level of admiration. Add this with its great flavor and feel, and what do you have? A member of the breakfast hall of fame.