Eggs Benedict is probably one of my top 3 favorite breakfasts. Creamy, runny, gooey poached egg topped with a slightly tangy, creamy Hollandaise sauce over tender slices of ham and a buttery, crunchy English muffin. Perfection. I grew to love eggs benedict since it was my dad’s absolute favorite breakfast choice whenever we’d go to a brunch. When I was younger, I had a hard time enjoying the “undercooked” runny yolk pouring out of the pouched egg soaking the ham and English muffin below. It wasn’t until I was much older did I appreciate the creaminess and deliciousness of a properly cooked runny egg yolk. Since then, eggs benedict has been one of my top favorite breakfast/brunch choices. Although, not all are created equal. Some Hollandaise sauces were too tangy for my taste, or the ham was so thick that it was hard to cut with a knife and to chew, or the English muffin was too rubbery for me cut with a serrated knife. I’ve looked at recipes before on how to make eggs benedict, but it looked a bit daunting. Recently, I came across a recipe by ChefSteps for preparing this dish via Sous Vide cooking method. We had gotten a Sous Vide precision cooker last year and the recipe looked down right easy. With minimal effort, I followed the recipe and produced an AMAZING eggs benedict. Gooey egg nestled in a nest of tender, thinly sliced deli ham over a thin and crispy English muffin.  I just wish my dad was still around so I could make it for him.

Now, this recipe makes the egg more on the gooey side and not really runny. But the results of the egg yolk is so creamy, it’s just as good, in my opinion. You can always do the egg at a different temperature (they have an egg calculator to find the egg you like), but the ease of just throwing everything into the same water bath for 1 or 2 hours is just too convenient and the results do not disappoint! I halved the Hollandaise sauce recipe so it could serve just my husband and I (2 eggs/2 English muffin halves per person) as an early Valentine’s brunch, since Valentine’s Day is on a weekday this year. It worked beautifully and I will definitely be making this again!

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Sous Vide Eggs Benedict

Adapted from recipe by ChefSteps

Total Time 2 hrs

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

• 40 g (3 TBLS) Champagne vinegar
• 25 g (about 3 TBLS minced) Shallots, minced
• 150 g (about 10 TBLS) Butter, salted, plus more for muffins (for reference: 14.8 g is 1 TBLS of butter)
• 85 g (about 5 yolks) Large egg yolks, (for reference – 1 large yolk is around 18-21g)
• 60 g (about 1/4 cup) Water
• 20 g (about 1 ½ TBLS) Lemon juice
• 3 g (about ½ tsp) Salt, kosher
• 12 Eggs
• 6 English muffins
• Ham, thinly sliced, as needed
• Dill, fresh, as needed for garnish
• Paprika, as needed for garnish

Instructions

• About 2 hours before brunch, preheat sous vide water bath to 147 °F / 64 °C.
• Make shallot and vinegar reduction:      40 g (3 TBLS) Champagne vinegar

        25 g (about 3 TBLS minced) Shallots, minced

  Combine vinegar and shallots in a small pot. Over high heat, reduce liquid by half. Strain to remove shallots.
• Combine ingredients for hollandaise:

        150 g (about 10 TBLS) Butter, salted
  

        85 g (about 5 yolks) Large Egg yolks

        60 g (about 1/4 cup) Water

        20 g (about 1 ½ TBLS) Lemon juice

        20 g (about 1 ½ TBLS) Vinegar reduction, strained, from above

        3 g (about ½ tsp) Salt, kosher

  Dump ingredients listed above in a ziplock-style bag, squeeze the bag a little bit just to pop the yolks and lower it into the bath. No need to mix it ahead of time.
  
• Let the hollandaise cook at 147 °F / 64 °C for 1–2 hours, or until you’re ready to serve brunch. (You can technically leave it in longer, but it’ll get thicker the longer you leave it in.) Cooking the ingredients sous vide means you can throw everything in a blender right before breakfast, and your hollandaise will come out velvety smooth.
• While the hollandaise is cooking, pop all your eggs into another ziplock-style bag. (You can cook eggs directly in the water, but the bag makes it easier to lift them out when you’re done.) If the bag floats, just scoop some of the cooking water into it until it sinks. The eggs can cook at the exact same temperature and for the same amount of time as the hollandaise, so just put them in the same pot.TIP: Eggs cooked at 147 °F / 64 °C turn out nice and gooey on the inside. If you like your eggs a different way, use the Egg Calculator to pick your perfect temp, but remember: if you choose a different time-and-temperature combination for your eggs, you’ll have to cook them separately from the hollandaise. The beauty here lies in the simplicity—two things, one pot!
  
• About an hour before brunch, preheat oven to 200 °F. Halve 6 English muffins and spread salted butter on each half. In a skillet over high heat, toast the muffin halves four at a time. Press down on them with a spatula or another skillet to get an extra-crispy crust.
• Lay your muffins, cut-side up, on a baking sheet. Top each one with a little thinly sliced ham nest, leaving a space in the center to put the egg in later. We make ham nests so the eggs won’t slide off when you’re ready to serve those Benedicts.
• In your 200 °F preheated oven, reserve the ham and muffins until you’re ready to eat. Put some plates in there too so you can serve each masterpiece on a nice, warm palette. Mince up some dill; set aside.
• About 20 minutes before serving, take that bag of hollandaise out of the water. It’s going to look all greasy and separated, and that’s normal. Blend everything in a blender on medium until it looks nice and fluffy and light yellow.
• Put two muffin halves on each plate so you can crack all the eggs at once in the next step.
• Pull those eggs out of the water and put them in a bowl nearby. Rest a slotted spoon in another bowl right next to the eggs. Now carefully crack each egg over the slotted spoon so that the excess runny white drains into the bowl. Transfer the egg to a ham nest. Repeat until all the ham nests are topped with eggs.
• Pour hollandaise straight from the blender onto each egg. You can just eyeball the amount—be conservative at first so you don’t run out.
• Sprinkle on the minced dill. Add other herbs and spices if you want—like a light dusting of paprika.

Recipe Notes

• If the hollandaise sits for a bit after blending, it will be too thick to pour. Just quickly blend it again and it will be perfectly pourable again!

Tried this recipe?
Mention @_thelittleruby. Also, rate and comment below!

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