How To Make Truffled Egg Benedict

Step 1: Preparation

Step 2: Making The Hollandaise Sauce

To make the Hollandaise sauce, crack four of the eggs. We need only the yolks, so after cracking the eggs tip the contents over the fingers of your hand. The whites will slip through your fingers leaving just the yolks. Add a tablespoon of water and start to whisk.

Step 3: Preparing The Egg Yolks

Place the egg yolks over simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Just heat the bowl over the steam, making sure the eggs don't curdle, and whisk continually until the contents begin to resemble whipped cream. Take the bowl from the heat and carry on whisking, then repeat until you have the right consistency.

Step 4: Clarifying The Butter

We need to now clarify the butter by melting the 250g of butter slowly, in a good, sturdy pan, over a small heat. The water in the butter will evaporate, then the milk solid will sink to the bottom of the pan. The froth will rise to the top so skim the froth, then strain the butter through a sieve. Then encorporate the strained butter into the mixture, whisking as you go.

Eggs Benedict is credited to a Mrs. Le Grand Benedict, a regular patron of Delmonico's restaurant in the 1860s. She got fed up with the regular menu and wanted something different. So she asked the chef Charles Ranhofer to cook up something different and Eggs Benedict was born!

Step 5: The Seasonings

Get the lemon, some salt and some truffled purée. Now add fresh lemon juice, a couple of pinches of ground sea salt and half a tablespoon of truffled purée. Mix well and add the seasonings to taste.

Step 6: Preparing The Asparagus

Get a bunch of asparagus and blanch it in the pot with the boiling salted water. After about thirty seconds, take out the asparagus and refresh with ice cold water to keep it nice and crisp.

Step 7: Crisp Up The Bacon

Slowly cook the bacon in the pan, rendering the fat that's in the bacon until it is nice and crispy.

Step 8: Toast The Bread

This recipe uses bread, but you can also use English Muffins. Lightly butter and then toast the bread or muffin in an over or grill. Today we are using an oven.

While the eggs are poaching, put the bacon and asparagus with the bread in an oven, this will keep everything warm while we wait for the eggs to cook.

Step 9: Poach The Eggs

Add 4 teaspoons of white wine vinegar to one of the pots and stir the simmering water. Crack the rest of the three eggs one at a time into a bowl and gently slide them into the pot. Poach the eggs for about three minutes.

Step 10: Preparing The Plate

Get the bacon, bread, plate and asparagus ready. While the eggs are poaching it's a good time to arrange the bacon, the asparagus and the bread onto a plate. Laden the crisp bacon across the bread and place three spears of asparagus, neatly and creatively on top of the bacon, ready to mate with the eggs.

Step 11: Placing The Poached Egg

Lay the poached eggs on top of the asparagus and bacon, making sure no excess water drips onto the plate or the bread. Use a perforated spoon and then a cloth to gently dab up the excess water. Now cover with the hollandaise sauce.

Step 12: Eat and Enjoy

Eat and enjoy this truly delicious dish.