Today for brunch after classes I made Eggs Benedict. There are a variety of ways to make this dish, but I went for the traditional -that being slices of ham, a poached egg, topped with homemade hollandaise sauce on a perfectly toasted english muffin. My first step was making the hollandaise sauce; I have never made this sauce from scratch before, only from packages. First, I whisked the three egg yolks and a bit of lemon juice together until it had thickened in consistency and doubled in volume; I then placed it over heat using a double broiler. Continuously whisking, I added in the water and melted butter- making sure not to overcook the mixture because that would cause the eggs to scramble. Once the mixture reached a nice consistency, I removed from heat and got started on the eggs.

I filled a non-stick skillet full of water and waited until the water began to boil. I then added in the white vinegar, the purpose of the vinegar is to allow the egg to cook at a faster rate. Once boiling, I gently broke the egg into the water making sure not to break the yolk. The egg will take approximately 4 minutes to cook. You know the egg is ready when the egg white is not clear anymore and is completely set. I removed the eggs with a slotted spoon allowing the water to drain before placing it on the english muffin. This method of cooking eggs is called poaching.

For the Canadian bacon or ham, I quickly panfried the slices rather then microwaving to get the ham a bit crispy as well as warm. While doing that, I toasted the english muffins; all that was left was assembling the meal. The order of assemble is english muffins, slices of ham, eggs, and top with hollandaise.

I really liked creating this dish as it was easy, flavourful, and time efficient. One thing I learned for next time is that I need to whisk the hollandaise more frequently because there were some lumps in my hollandaise. Either that or I need to be more conscious of the heat, as the little lumps could have easily been caused by too much heat. My poached eggs were perfectly done, which surprised me because every attempt before this has been unsuccessful – I either break or overcook the yolk. I was thrilled that my eggs were done correctly, as the egg component is a big part of eggs benedict. I would make this dish again, but next time I would try substituting ham for bacon.