"The story of eggs Benedict is a hard one to tell. The beginning is shady at best, the main character has a hangover, and there are decades when nothing much happens. But the genre is certain, and the setting clear: Eggs Benedict is a mystery rooted in a long-vanished version of New York. Despite the dish's twisted history, it provides a link to one of the city's more glamorous eras. Of eggs Benedict's origins, much has been said, but little has been settled. Key witnesses are long dead. One cookbook contradicts another. Even the Oxford English Dictionary shrugs: 'Origins U.S.'...And while there are several eggs Benedict creation myths, some of which may be the subject of discussion among aficionados on National Eggs Benedict day...April 16, they share decidedly genteel roots: rich and distinguished New Yorkers, fabulous New York restaurants and an adventurous 19th-century dining culture unfettered by contemporary concerns about trans fats and cholesterol. If there is a starting point to the debate over the provenance of this quintessential brunch dish, it would be 1942. That was the year The New Yorker published an article about a stockbroker named Lemuel Benedict and a breakfast order he had placed nearly 50 years earlier, in 1894, at the old Waldorf hotel at Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street. By 1931, when the hotel, renamed the Waldorf-Astoria, moved to its current location on Park Avenue, eggs Benedict had been enshrined as a classic American dish...By all accounts, Lemuel Benedict was a dashing ladies' man, typically outfitted in fine dark suits and high white collars...His name appeared often in newspaper society columns, and he had a reputation for leaving huge tips at New York's finest restaurants...Although Lemuel Benedict had a hangover that morning in 1894, the New Yorker article recounted, he didn't shy away from breakfast. He ordered two poached eggs, bacon, buttered toast and a pitcher of hollandaise sauce, a rich, egg-based sauce flavored with butter, lemon and vinegar. Then he built the dish that bears his name. Lemuel's innovation attracted the attention of Oscar of the Waldorf, as the maitre d'hotel there was widely known. He promptly tested it and put the item on the menu, although Oscar's version substituted ham for bacon and an English muffin for toast..Lemuel benedict reveled in the attention and prestige that resulted from his breakfast order. But his original request had specified toast, and he never warmed to the idea of English muffins...Lemuel Benedict died at age 76 in 1943, less than a hear after the New Yorker article was published The article had, however, caught the attention of Jack Benedict, a real estate salesman from Colorado who was the son of Lemuel's first cousin. As other stories about the creation of eggs Benedict surfaced, Jack Benedict's interest in the dish grew into full-fledged activism and, eventually, obsession. He became dedicated to the task of making sure that his dead relative got credit for his famous breakfast order. Jack Benedict was particularly upset by an article published in March 1978 in Bon Appetit magazine titled 'Perfect Eggs Benedict,' which credited a Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand Benedict as the founders of the dish. According to Bon Appetit, the couple requested the ingredients one morning around the turn of the last century at Delmonico's...The article noted that one account credited the dish's creation to a young man with a hangover at the Waldorf, but in an error that must have further inflamed Jack Benedict, it referred to the young man not as Lemuel Benedict but Samuel. And in 1894, the year Lemuel placed his order at the Waldorf, the legendary's chef Charles Ranhofer published a huge cookbook called The Epicurean that included and almost identical recipe, Eggs a la Benedick. The LeGrand version of the eggs Benedict creation story came to eclipse the account offered in The New Yorker in many cookbooks and food reference books...One seeming hitch in the version that credits Oscar of the Waldorf, who plays such a key role in that account, never confirmed the story, despite ample opportunity to do so. Oscar had no aversion to publicity...But Oscar never mentioned eggs Benedict, either by name or by description...Some food historians are also skeptical about Jack Benedict's claims. 'It's not a 100 percent invented dish...it's an evolution...'"
---"Was he the Eggman?" Gregory Beyer, New York Times, April 8, 2007 (p. CY1)
[NOTE: 1942 New Yorker & 1978 Bon Appetit articles below.]
What interests us more than the actual "invention" of the dish (which, food historian Mark Zanger quite rightly points out [American History Cookbook (p. 139)] was known in 1830s Kentucky, is the "invention" of the story behind the dish.According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest print reference to Eggs Benedict appeared in 1898: "Poached eggs...benedict, split and toast some small muffins; put on each a nice round slice of broiled ham, and on the ham the poached egg; our over some Hollandaise sauce." [A. Meyer, Eggs & how to use Them] . We agree with Mr. Zanger & Mr. Beyer: this recipe was not invented, it evolved. The oldest description we find for this dish predates the earliest creation legend by 50 years. None of the "creation" stories state a particular date. In the food world this is not unusual.Doing the "math" on Lemuel's story places the dish in 1894. Food historians remind us the gap between "invention" and printevidence can take years, if not decades. Newspapers do the best job reporting new recipes & food trends. Magazines followclose behind. Cookbooks us date general overall knowledge/acceptance of a particular dish/by name.
"To Poach Eggs.
Place a broad stew-pan of clean water over the fire till it boils, and set it level before the fire. Break the eggs separately into a plate or saucer, to ascertain if they are good, dropping them as you examine them into the boiling water. They must not be too much crowded, and there must be plenty of water to cover them well. Having put them all into the pan in this manner, let them remain till the whites become set; then place the pan again on the fire, and cook them as hard as you desire: they probably will be sufficiently hard by the time the water begins to boil. Raise them carefully from the water with an egg-slice, trimming the edges smoothly, and lay them separately upon small buttered toasts or broiled ham, arranging them neatly in the dish; sprinkle on a very little salt and black pepper; put on each a spoonful of melted butter, and send them up warm. They are eaten at breakfast. When prepared for the dinner table, omit the toasts or ham; serve them in a small deep dish, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and pour over the same melted butter. They are sent as a side side to accompany poultry and game."
---Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, facsimile 1839 edition [Image Graphics:Paducah KY] undated recent paperback reprint (p. 227)
[1896]
"Philadelphia Eggs
Split some fresh muffins in two, toast them to a fine color and lay them on a dish. Cut cooked chicken white meat the same sizeas the half muffin, lay them on top, then a poached egg over, and cover with Hollandaise sauce, made as follows: Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter and when quite hot add two raw egg yolks and the juice of half a lemon; whip well till it becomes creamy andconsistent, then use."
---The Cook Book by "Oscar" of the Waldorf," Oscar Tschirky [Saalfield Publishing:Chicago] 1896, 1908 (p. 588)
[NOTE: Interesting this cookbook does not offer a recipe for "Eggs Benedict" two years after the "invention" occurred. One would thinkthe author would be proud to share.]
[1898]
"a la Benedict--Benedict
Split and toast some small muffins; put on each a nice round slice of broiled ham, and on the ham the poached egg; pour over somehollandaise sauce."
---Eggs and how to use them, Adolphe Meyer, 1898 (p. 43)
[1902]
"Poached Eggs a la Benedict
(Adolphe Meyer)
Split and toast some muffins. Put on each a round slice of broiled ham, and on the ham poach an egg. Pour over some Hollandaise sauce.Beat half a cup of butter to a cream, add the yolks of two to four eggs (according to the consistency desired) one at a time, beatingin each egg thoroughly before another is added. Add one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of cayenne or paprika, and half a cup ofboiling water. Cook over hot water until thickened slightly, adding gradually the juice of half a lemon. Remove the saucepan from the water occasionally, to avoid overheating and curdling the mixture."
---"Queries and Answers," Boston Cooking School Magazine, May 1, 1902, 6,10; Ameircan Periodicals (p. 473)
[1906]
"Eggs a la Benedict
Split and toast English muffins. Saute circular pieces of cold boiled ham, place these over halves of muffins, arrange on each a droppedegg, and pour around Hollandaise Sauce II (see p. 274), diluted with cream to make of such consistency to pour easily."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer, facsimile 1906 edition [Cornell Digital Collections:Ithaca NY] 2011 (p. 97)
[NOTE: This recipe does not appear in the 1896 edition of this book.]
[1909]
"'Ten ways of Serving Eggs,' Omelete plain, Spanish Omelet, Eggs a la Martin, Shirred Eggs, Mexicana Eggs, Jefferson, Eggs Benedict, Eggs Poached, Steamed and Scrambled."
---"Cooking School," [Mrs. Sara Tyson Rorer], Dakota Huronite [SD], June 17, 1909 (p. 8)
[1920]
"(2925)...Eggs a la Benedick
Cut some muffins in halves crosswise, toast them without allowing to brown, then place a round of cooked ham an eighth of an inch thick andof the same diameter as the muffins on each half. Heat in a moderate oven and put a poached egg on each toast. Cover the whole wiht Hollandaisesauce."
---The Epicurean, Charles Ranhofer, [Hotel Monthly Press:Evanston IL] 1920 (p. 858)
[NOTE: (1) The 1893 edition of this book does not contain this recipe. Both editions contain a recipe titled "Ham a la Benedict" whichappears to be unrelated.]
"Eggs Benedict
For each egg allow one slice of cooked ham and one toasted English muffin or round slice of toast. Poach eggs. Put ham on toast, then poached egg; pour over all with well-seasoned white sauce."
---"Household Department," Boston Globe, June 2, 1920 (p. 12)
[1924]
"Eggs Benedict
Buy six English muffins from the baker, split and toast a nice brown, spread with butter, cover with a thin slice of broiled ham,place a poached egg on each half of muffin and pour over all a tomato Hollandaise sauce."
---"Chef Wyman's Suggestions for Tomorrow's Menu," Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1924 (p. A6)
[1935]
"Benedict Eggs
4 slices toast
4 slices ham
4 poached eggs
4 strips broiled bacon
1 cup thin cream sauce; made as follows
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup top milk
salt and pepper
On each slice of toast place a slice of broiled ham and then a poached egg. Pour over cream sauce, and lay a strip of bacon over thetop. Garnish with paprika."
---"Muffins and Egg Benedict Ready to Start Today," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1935 (p. A7)
[1942]
"Forty-eight years ago a young blade named Lemuel Benedict came into the dining room of the old Waldorf for a late breakfast. He had a hangover (the statute of limitations permits the publication of the libel), but his brain was clicking away in high gear. He ordered some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce, and then and there proceeded to put together the dish that has, ever since, borne his name. Oscar of the Waldorf got wind of this unorthodox delicacy, tested it, and put it on his breakfast and luncheon menus, with certain modifications. Oscar's version of Eggs Benedict substituted ham for bacon and a toasted English muffin for toasted bread. Be advised that this perversion is not approved by the originator, who now lives in sedate retirement near Stamford, Connecticut, writing political articles, Republican in tone, for the local newspaper and puttering around with amateur cookery. 'English muffins are unpalatable, no matter how they are toasted or how they are served,' he says. To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Benedict is the sole surviving epicure of those who have given their names to great recipes. Dame Nellie Melba is gone; so is Newburg (nobody knows much about him) and Tom Collins (nobody knows anything about him). Naturally, this statement ignores Reuben's sandwiches, which impart but a fleeting flame. Benedict's has been a full and happy life, crowned just lately by the election of Mrs. Luce. He was a stockbroker for thirty-eight years, selling his seat and retiring at a good time--1927. His happiest memories, however, are gastronomical rather than financial. For example, he remembers W. K. Vanderbilt's chef, the great Joseph, who was paid fifteen thousand a year and who claimed he put terrapin in a more cheerful frame of mind and improved their flavor by reading a newspaper to them before dropping them in the soup. Mr. Benedict told us vivid tales of the Broadway lobster palaces, of get-togethers at Delmonico's with Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell, and of informal Sunday afternoons at his own home, with Schumann-Heink or Caruso eating his food and spontaneously bursting into song. Mr. Benedict occasionally visits New York, but it's not the same. About the only landmark left for him is the Racquet Club. After having achieved some really good cooking, we Americans have retrogressed to the point of eating hamburgers, drinking between meals, and taking our mistresses and wives to dine at the same places--all, in Mr. Benedict's eyes, equal crimes."
---"Benedict," The New Yorker, December 19, 1942 (p. 14-15)
[NOTE: No recipe provided in this article.]
[1964]
"The legendary Delmonico's Restuarant in New York City has been the birthplace of several tasty and now-famous dishes, among them Eggs Benedict. According to a well-founded report, two of the regular customers were Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand Benedict. One Saturday at lunch, Mrs. Benedict complained that there was nothing new on the menu, so the maitre d'hotel asked what she might suggest. Out of their colloquy came the now internationally famous recipe: toasted English muffins topped with a thin slice of ham and poached eggs, with hollandaise sauce over all."
---Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, Volume III, William and Mary Morris [Harper & Row:New York] 1964 (p. 93-94)
[1967]
"Eggs Benedict is conceivably the most sophisticated dish ever created in America. Oddly enough, its origins are little-known. They certainly had been obscure to this department until the arrival not long ago of a letter from an American residing in France. The writer, Edward P. Montgomery, expressed the hope that once and for all a recipe for the genuine article might be offered the public. He cringes at the thought of what passes for the dish in most American restaurants, a 'concoction of an overpoached egg on a few shreds of ham on a --ugh!--soggy tough half of an English muffin with an utterly tasteless hollandaise...' Mr. Montgomery related that the dish was created by Commodore E.C. Benedict. It was from his kitchen that the dish gained its fame. The commodore, a noted banker and yachtsman, died in 1920 at the age of 86. The recipe here was given to Mr. Montgomery by his mother, who in turn had been given it by her brother, a friend of the Commodore. 'To get the hollandaise, eggs, toast and ham assembled when they are at point is,' Mr. Montgomery says, 'a real trick.'
Eggs Benedict
1 hard-cooked egg
4 slices cooked ham, cut one-quarter inch thick (enough to cut flour three-inch circles)
1/2 cup plus one tablespoon butter
3 egg yolks
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne
4 three-inch rounds of toast
4 poached eggs
parsley sprigs.
1. Separate the hard-cooked whit from the yolk. Chop the white finely and force the yolks through a sieve.
2. Cut four three-inch rounds of ham.
3. Place white and yolk and one-quarter cup finely chopped ham trimmings in a bowl and place over hot water to warm.
4. Melt one tablespoon butter in a skillet and warm ham rounds over gentle heat.
5. Heat the remaining one-half cut butter to bubbling. Place egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and cayenne in an electric blender. Turn motor to low. Add butter slowly while blending. Blend 15 seconds until smooth.
6. Stir the hot, hard-cooked egg and ham mixture into the sauce.
7. Place two rounds of toast on each of two plates. Top each toast round with a round of ham and then a poached egg. Spoon sauce over. garnish with a few slivers of ham and parsley sprigs. Yield: Two servings."
---"An American Classic: Eggs Benedict," Craig Claiborne, New York Times, September 24, 1967 (p. 290)
"To the Editor: I am writing to correct the statement by Edward P. Montgomery concerning the origin of Eggs Benedict, as reported recently by Craig Claiborne. The true story, well known to the relations of Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, of whom I am one, is as follows. Mr. and Mrs. Benedict, when they lived in New York around the turn of the century, lunched every Saturday at Delmonico's. One day Mrs. Benedict said to the maitre d'hotel, 'Haven't you anything new or different to suggest?' On his reply that he would like to hear something new from her, she suggested poached eggs on toasted English muffins with a thin slice of ham, hollandaise sauce and a truffle on top. This recipe has bone around the world. Commodore E. C. Benedict, who was given the credit, was a cousin and undoubtedly enjoyed these eggs, but it would have been unlike him to have called them his inventions. The name is occasionally given, erroneously, as 'Eggs Benedictine.'--Mabel C. Butler, Vineyard Haven, Mass."
---Letters to the Editor, New York Times, November 26, 1967 (p. SM 40)
[1978] [1981]
---Perfect Eggs Benedict," Doris Tobias Bon Appetit, March 1978 (p. 53-54, 98)
[NOTE: This article offers recipe and several variations; none of them purported as "the original."]
"Eggs Benedict
Hollandaise sauce (see below)
2 English muffins
Butter
4 slices of baked ham, cut in rounds to fit over English muffin halves
1 quart water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
Prepare Hollandaise sauce (see below). Keep warm over hot water. Split and lgihtly toast English muffins, spread lightly with butter.
1/4 cup fine white wine vinegar
1/2 pound butter
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons water
Salt
White pepper
Place vinegar in the top half of a double boiler directly over very low heat until reduced to about 1/2 teaspoon. Remove saucepan from heatuntil reduced to about 1/2 teaspoon. Remove saucepan from heat and set aside until vinegar is quite cool. Place butter in top half of a second double boiler and place over hot, not boiling water. Whe melted, gently pour it into a measuring cup, discarding the milky sediment in the bottom of the pan. Beat the egg yolks and water in the double boiler with the vinegar. Place over barely simmeringwater and beat with a wire whisk until very light and frothy."
---The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook, Ted James and Rosalind Cole [Bramhall House::New York] 1981 (p. 217)
