Eggs Benny for Brinner

My house loves breakfast food and even more than that, we love eating it for dinner! This is a mashup of two breakfast classics: bagels & lox and eggs benedict. I still call this eggs benedict because it has the english muffin with poached eggs and hollandaise. The twist is using smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon and adding tomato and red onion, two traditional toppings for a bagel with cream cheese and lox. I should also add that I can't say "eggs benny" without hearing Elton John singing "B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets" in my head!

Hollandaise is a delicious, rich sauce of egg yolks and butter that can be intimidating to make. I always get a little anxious because things can go sideways so quickly. I follow Tyler Florence's recipe from Food Network. It's the first option when you google it, and I've tried it several times now with great results. 

Poaching eggs is also a technique that can be tough to master, and because of that I trust the master himself, Alton Brown. I'm not going to say it's foolproof, but it his method has worked for me several times (after many failures trying other ways). 


The most important step in making this dish is to have everything ready ahead of time. Once the cooking starts it can go fast so prep every ingredient before ever turning on a pan. 

Crack eggs into individual ramekins or small bowls and set up poaching pan.

Separate egg yolks and place in a heat safe bowl. Juice the lemon and melt butter.

Slice tomato and onion. Remove smoked salmon from package and cut to appropriate size if needed. Open english muffins to set aside to be toasted later. Mince chives for garnish.

Set up bain-marie to make hollandaise. Bain-marie is basically a fancy term for double boiler. My version is a pyrex bowl over a pot of simmering water. The water does not touch the bottom of the bowl and never gets to the boiling point. The idea here is to heat the eggs slowly, cooking them through, but not scrambling.
*The picture is here for reference. Set pot of water to start heating up, but do not place bowl on top just yet.* 

I prefer to poach the eggs first. The water should be simmering, NOT boiling. There is a huge difference and it will affect the outcome of your eggs. Simmering means only a few bubble are breaking the surface at a time. Add the correct amount of salt and vinegar per the recipe and drop in your eggs one at a time. Turn off heat and leave covered for 5 minutes. I noted that the eggs were right at the point of being overcooked so 4 or 4.5 minutes might be a better option for those who like runnier yolks. Remove and strain eggs on a plate lined with a paper towel. 

TIP: Poached eggs can be made in advance and refrigerated in a container of cold water. Begin cooking the eggs following the normal method, but remove the eggs about a minute early to keep them from being overcooked when reheated. To reheat just use a slotted spoon to lower each egg into simmering water for about a minute until it is completely warmed through. 



For the hollandaise, whisk the egg yolks with lemon juice for at least a minute. The yolks will start to look paler in color and thicken. Place bowl on top of simmering water (bain-marie) and continue whisking. Slowly pour in melted butter all while whisking constantly. When the sauce has thickened, remove from heat and season with salt and cayenne. 

Other recipes I've read say to use white pepper, but personally I think white pepper smells like the inside of a barn so I like to add black pepper instead. And I think those little black dots give the sauce some character! 

At some point during all that whisking, get your english muffins in the toaster.

TIP: When making the sauce I always keep a trivet or small towel right next to the stove where I can place the bowl if I feel that the eggs are getting too hot and are on the verge of scrambling. The sauce can be poured through a mesh strainer if there is any concern that there are a few pieces of cooked egg. Keep a small cup of very hot water nearby. If the sauce is too thick, it can be thinned out with a few drops. 

My last thoughts on hollandaise are this: don't be afraid to try it. It delicious and worth the work of making it by hand. And if you need to reheat it do not microwave it. I repeat Do Not Microwave it! Trust me, I learned that one the hard way:) 

When the sauce is done and the muffins are toasty warm it's time to assemble! (This would also be the time to reheat the eggs if need be) 

Here's the order:
1. english muffin half
2. two or 3 slices of smoked salmon
3. tomato sprinkled with salt and pepper
4. red onion slices
5. one poached egg
6. hollandaise sauce
7. sprinkling of chives and a little more S&P
8. gobble it up and literally lick the plate clean! 

Hollandaise sauce recipe from Tyler Florence can be found here.

Alton Brown's egg poaching method found here.