History of eggs benedict

Eggs Benedict is a common American breakfast or brunch dish, consisting of two halves of an English muffin, each topped with Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. It was popularized in New York City.

There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of eggs Benedict. Delmonico's in Lower Manhattan says on its menu that "Eggs Benedict was first created in our ovens in 1860." One of its former chefs, Charles Ranhofer, also published the recipe for Eggs à la Benedick in 1894.

In an interview recorded in the "Talk of the Town" column of The New Yorker in 1942, the year before his death, Lemuel Benedict, a retired Wall Street stock broker, said that he had wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in 1894 and, hoping to find a cure for his morning hangover, ordered "buttered toast, poached eggs, crisp bacon, and a hooker of hollandaise". Oscar Tschirky, the maître d'hôtel, was so impressed with the dish that he put it on the breakfast and luncheon menus but substituted ham for the bacon and a toasted English muffin for the toast.

A later claim to the creation of Eggs Benedict was circuitously made by Edward P. Montgomery on behalf of Commodore E. C. Benedict. In 1967 Montgomery wrote a letter to then The New York Times food columnist Craig Claiborne which included a recipe he said he had received through his uncle, a friend of the commodore. Commodore Benedict's recipe—by way of Montgomery—varies greatly from Ranhofer's version, particularly in the hollandaise sauce preparation—calling for the addition of a "hot, hard-cooked egg and ham mixture".

Eggs Benedict is a brunch staple consisting of poached eggs and Canadian bacon or sliced ham on an English muffin, topped with hollandaise sauce (a rich and creamy concoction made with egg yolks, butter, lemon juice or vinegar, and various seasonings). Traditional strip bacon is sometimes used in place of ham or Canadian bacon.

The dish is believed to have originated in New York City during the late 1800s, but theories differ regarding how and where. One of the more popular claims goes to Delmonico’s Restaurant, often cited as the country’s earliest fine-dining establishment (1837). In the 1890s—though some sources give the 1860s—Mrs. (or Mr.) LeGrand Benedict (or Benedick), a frequent patron, reportedly found nothing she wanted on the menu and asked chef Charles Ranhofer to create something. The result was eggs Benedict. A competing story has Mr. Lemuel Benedict ordering the first eggs Benedict at the Waldorf Hotel (now the Waldorf-Astoria) in 1894—notably, with toast and bacon rather than an English muffin and ham. In any case, the respective chefs at each restaurant continued to serve the dish thereafter, and it has remained a popular breakfast item across the United States and elsewhere ever since.

The lasting power of this dish may be due to the ingredients that are so easily replaced by more-regional ones, whether it is corned beef for an Irish rendition or crab cakes in the Washington, D.C., area. Other variations include eggs Florentine (prepared in the same manner as eggs Benedict except with spinach used in place of the Canadian bacon or ham) and the Creole-style eggs Sardou (poached eggs, artichoke bottoms, and creamed spinach, topped with hollandaise sauce and sometimes shrimp), which was named for the French dramatist Victorien Sardou, who frequented New Orleans, where this take on the dish originated.

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