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The History of Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict topped with a modern garnish microgreens.

 


Will the real Eggs Benedict Please Stand Up!


T
here have been several folks that claim to be the
real chef that invented

the Famous

Eggs Benedict

 

 

Watch Gordon Ramsay make Eggs Benedict

Vintage Recipes from Newspapers

Variations on Eggs Benedict

Charles Ranhofer

An interesting fact is that Delmonico's Restaurant was founded in NYC almost 200 years ago.

Delmonicos Restaurant almost 200 years old.

 

 

Charles Ranhofer

Chef Charles Ranhofer

Chef Charles Ranhofer


An interesting fact is that Delmonico's Restaurant was founded in NYC almost 200 years ago.

In the 1860's, a regular patron of the restaurant, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, finding nothing to her liking and wanting something new to eat for lunch, discussed this with Delmonico's Chef Charles Ranhofer (1836-1899),

 

However Don't say it was Mrs. LeGrand Benedict to
Jack Benedict!

No one can say it better than Gregory Beyer from the New York Times.

His theory is that Eggs Benedict was "invented", but is more an "evolution".

However one man has pushed to make his uncle Lemuel Benedict the founder and ... Was He the Eggman?

THE story of eggs Benedict is a hard one to tell. The beginning is shady at best, the main character has a hangover, and there are decades when nothing much happens. But the genre is certain, and the setting clear: Eggs Benedict is a mystery rooted in a long-vanished version of New York. Despite the dish’s twisted history, it provides a link to one of the city’s more glamorous eras.

Of eggs Benedict’s origins, much has been said, but little has been settled. Key witnesses are long dead. One cookbook contradicts another. Even the Oxford English Dictionary shrugs: “Origins U.S.” What remains is a recipe that for about a century has come to represent something greater than the sum of its ingredients.......>Read the whole article here

 

 

Ranhofer came up with Eggs Benedict. He has a recipe called Eggs a' la Benedick (Eufa a' la Benedick) in his cookbook called The Epicurean published in 1894.:Eggs à la Benedick - Cut some muffins in halves crosswise, toast them without allowing to brown, then place a round of cooked ham an eighth of an inch thick and of the same diameter as the muffins one each half. Heat in a moderate oven and put a poached egg on each toast. Cover the whole with Hollandaise sauce.   

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Gordon Ramsay

Makes Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise

 

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Vintage Recipes from Newspapers

Los Angeles Times July 1, 1922

In 1922, I have the feeling English Muffins were not always available. So they used a biscuit cutter to make a nice round toast circle. also it removed the crusts.

 

 

 

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This is an Interesting take on Eggs Benedict Style from the Chicago Tribune March of 1918. It uses a creamy tomato sauce instead of Hollandaise.

 

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This is from 1913 in the "The Greensboro Daily News" apparently being able to buy eggs was a new thing, and that households should learn to value them as more than just a breakfast item.

 

I found this part interesting. It says that Eggs Benedict is served differently in almost every restaurant in New York. And garnished with a thin slice of truffle!!!

 

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This article from the Idaho Daily Statesman
talks about a dish served at "The Old Hoffman House" Eggs Benedict being a tomato filled with egg baked and topped with Bearnaise sauce.

 

 

I found this recipe at"A Well Seasoned Chef" website

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Some other variations on the Original Eggs Benedict;

Seafood Benedict replaces the ham with crab and/or shrimp and/or lobster and/or baby scallops.


Eggs Florentine substitutes spinach for the ham.[9][10][11] Older versions of eggs Florentine add spinach to poached or shirred eggs Mornay – eggs covered in Mornay sauce.[12]



Eggs Royale (Also known as Eggs Pacifica, Eggs Montreal, Eggs Victoria, Eggs Royal or Salmon Benedict) replaces the bacon with smoked salmon. Commonly served with capers and red onions, either on the side or directly on top of the hollandaise sauce.


Eggs Commander's was created by Chef Paul Prudhomme during the time he was working at Commander's Palace in New Orleans. The dish varies from Eggs Benedict in that the bacon is replaced with spicy andouille or breakfast sausage, and the hollandaise sauce is replaced with bearnaise sauce.


Pacific Northwest Eggs Benedict Poached egg over wild Alaskan Smoked Salmon on a toasted English muffin covered with Hollandaise sauce. Can also substitute Dungeness crab cakes for English muffin.


Eggs Montoya Replaces bacon for filet mignon.

Eggs Sardou substitutes artichoke bottoms and crossed anchovy fillets for the English muffin and ham, then tops the hollandaise sauce with chopped ham and a truffle slice. The dish was created at Antoine's Restaurant in New Orleans in honor of the French playwright Victorien Sardou. A more widespread version of the dish starts with a base of creamed spinach, substitutes artichoke bottoms for the English muffin, and drops the ham.


Irish Benedict replaces the ham with corned beef hash or Irish bacon.


Eggs Chesapeake replaces bacon with crabcake.

Pennsylvania-Dutch Benedict replaces the ham or bacon with scrapple. Popular in the eastern region of Pennsylvania.

Veggie Benedict, also known as California Benedict, replaces the bacon with avocado and tomato.



 

 

 


 

 

 

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Last updated April 17, 2022

 

 

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