(Pssst: Sous Vide Eggs Benedict are the easiest guilty pleasure you will ever make in your kitchen!)
Who doesn’t love Eggs Benedict and its many variations? It’s rich, creamy, and tastes fantastic. One of those guilty pleasures that makes breakfast my favorite meal!
I’ve made it many times the hard way–lots of whisking of the Hollandaise. Comes out fabulous as you’d expect, but its a fair amount of work.
Then there’s the Sous Vide way. Almost no work at all to make Sous Vide Eggs Benedict. You stick the ingredients in a ziplock bag, put it into a temperature controlled water bath for the desired time, and sip your Bloody Mary. And BTW, if you haven’t tried our special Bloody Mary recipe with Umami, you’ve missed the perfect compliment to Eggs Benedict.
A little work to toast the English Muffins and assemble the final concoction and you’re ready to feast!
Who knew this much culinary pleasure could be this easy?
I’ve got a Chef Steps Joule Sous Vide that I like. And their web site has a wonderful recipe. Just one problem–they want you to measure all the ingredients out by weight. Listen, I’m not a cocaine dealer and I don’t even have a gram scale in my kitchen. Sorry!
So, I have recast the recipe to use the cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons that we ordinary American galley slaves expect, ahem!
Ingredients
(Yields 12 servings)
Hollandaise
1/3 cup Champagne Vinegar
1/4 Shallots, minced
24 Tbsp Butter, salted
6 Egg Yolks, Beaten
6 Tbsp Water
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
24 Eggs
12 English Muffins
Salted Butter (as needed for the muffins)
Thinly sliced Ham
Fresh Dill
Paprika
Preparation
2 hours before serving preheat your Sous Vide to 147F / 64C.
Make your shallot and vinegar reduction. Combine vinegar and shallots in a small sauce pan. Reduce it to half the volume over high heat. Strain to remove the shallots (optional, but will make for a smoother prettier sauce). You want 3 Tbsp of this reduction for your Hollandaise sauce.
Combine the ingredients for the Hollandaise sauce in a one gallon ziplock bag. Don’t worry about mixing as we will throw it all in the blender once it is done cooking. Leave the bag partially unzipped so air can escape, and lower the bag into the water bath. Leaving it partially unzipped allows excess air to escape. Zip it and clip it to the side of the pot.
Leave the Hollandaise to cook for 1-2 hours at the 147F / 64C. You could leave it longer, but it’ll get thicker the longer you cook it.
Once you have the Hollandaise going, it’s time to add the eggs to the same pot. You can either put them in another one gallon ziplock bag or directly in the water. Use the bag–it makes it easier to remove the eggs when they’re done.
Good news: the eggs cook at the same temperature and for the same time as the sauce. They’ll come out gooey and perfect for Eggs Benedict.
When it gets to be an hour before brunch, it’s time to toast your English Muffins.
Preheat your oven to 200F / 93C.
Halve the English muffins, spread butter on each half, and toast them four at a time in a skillet on high heat. Ideally, press down on the with another skillet to get an extra-crispy crust.
As you finish toasting them, lay them buttered side up on a baking sheet. Top each with your ham or other desired meat (crab or smoked salmon are out of this world!). If you can, make the ham create a little nest that hold the egg in place.
Pop the ham and muffins into your warm oven until ready to serve. It’d be nice to put your plates in there too so they’ll be nice and warm.
Mince your fresh dill.
About 20 minutes before you intend to serve, take the Hollandaise bag out of the water, put it in your blender, and blend on medium until it is nice and fluffy.
Time to plate!
Put two muffin halves on each warmed plate.
Pull the eggs out of the water and put them in a bowl. Take a slotted spoon and another bowl and set them nearby.
Carefully crack each egg over the slotted spoon and drain any excess runny egg white into your second bowl. Transfer the egg to the muffin atop the ham.
When you’ve got all the muffins topped with eggs, you’re ready to pour on the Hollandaise. Just pour it right from the blender, but be careful you don’t run out!
Dust lightly with spices–paprika tastes good and looks pretty. Don’t forget to sprinkle on your dill.
You’re done! Serve up your gorgeous Eggs Benedict to appreciative guests!