- Hey, I'm John Kanell, and
today on "Preppy Kitchen," we're making one of my
favorite breakfast treats. eggs Benedict. So let's get started! First
off, grab a small pot. We're gonna melt a quarter cup
of butter over medium heat. And while that melts,
let's separate some eggs. Over medium heat. While that's melting away,
I'm gonna separate four eggs. I'm using the egg yolks for this delicious Hollandaise sauce. The whites you could freeze for later, they're gonna be great for a meringue, or a meringue buttercream. Two, three. And my
butter's already melted. Ooh! It's feeling spicy. Okay, and four. Grab a whisk. We're gonna whisk this until
it's a nice, pale yellow color. Now I'm gonna tell you, you could have used an
electric mixer for this, or get some exercise in, why not? Okay. This reminds me of when I decided to make whipped cream by hand. Oh my gosh. Next time,
I'll just use a hand mixer. Mm mm mm. So this dish
is such a treat for me, and it's one I associate
with going to a restaurant, or being on vacation,
like at a nice hotel. But you can make it at
home and it's really easy. This is the hardest part, I tell ya. Okay. Thickened up. It's
a nice pale yellow color. I'm gonna add in some
delicious things now, starting with one tablespoon
of fresh lemon juice. Whisk that in. The acid's gonna thicken
things up right away. It's a similar reaction that
you'd have in a key lime pie. Okay, now for a quarter teaspoon
of salt, little balance. An eighth of a teaspoon of cayenne, but you could use paprika if you wanted. Here we go. And an eighth of
a teaspoon of black pepper. If you don't wanna see the
specks, white pepper will do too. You know what I'm gonna do? I don't need earthquake
wax in Connecticut, but it comes in handy when
you don't wanna hold the bowl. Nice. Whisk those ingredients in. I love the color of this. My butter was on the stove
for a moment too long, and it browned slightly, but
I think that's delicious. I love brown butter. I'm gonna drizzle the butter
in and whisk, whisk, whisk until it's thickened up. It's gonna be about a minute. Ah, that smells so good. Hollandaise sauce is pretty old, but eggs Benedict is
only from the late 1800s. It was invented in Delmonico's, a fancy restaurant at
the time in New York. And the story is that Mrs.
Benedict was tired of the menu, so the chef created a new
breakfast item for her, eggs Benedict. It's a very condensed history. Okay, whisk, whisk, whisk,
until it's nice and thick. It smells so good already. Look at the job this wax
is doing. It's so nice. Ooh, you can see it's getting thick. This, by the way, is a
quick Hollandaise sauce, not quite a traditional one. It's easier, it's faster,
and I think it's delicious. Mmm, nice. Oh, one thing. If you're not into the whole
raw egg yolk situation, I understand. You can pasteurize your eggs. Look up the instructions online. You're basically adding your
eggs into a very hot water bath for a certain amount of
time to just clean 'em out, destroy any pathogens, and that way, you can enjoy them with less worries. Okay, this is all done.
I'm gonna set it aside. And now it's time to poach our eggs. I will say one thing. Today, I'm using
store-bought English muffins. But you can make your own. I often do it. And there's a video on the
channel if you wanna make them. They're so good. Like, so
good, I can't even tell you. So I highly recommend. But it's gonna be delicious both ways. Now we're gonna poach the eggs. Our sauce is made, and now there's three
things that we're gonna do, and they all happen kind
of at the same time. I have a big pot of water.
It's at a boil, that's ready. We're gonna poach our
eggs, cook our bacon, and toast our muffins. Then it all comes together. And while I'm doing that, we can talk about some of
the many delicious variations of this. First up, let's crack our
egg into a small bowl. I will say that a fresh
egg will poach much better. The egg white holds together. An old egg is great for
making a French macaron, for different reasons, but a young egg is great for poaching. And you can have a few eggs
at the ready to tip in. So one, and we'll do two. So couple things. I brought a big pot of
water to a hard boil, and then I reduced it to a simmer, so that is simmering away and ready. Big pan, medium high heat. Let's get that nice and warm
before we add the bacon. And for those English muffins, of course, you're gonna split them with a fork to have all those delicious
nooks and crannies, just like the commercials told you to. You don't use a knife. There we go. Lots of crannies and nooks. Is my pan hot? Let's see. Nice and hot. That's how you can tell. I'm adding my bacon on. It's gonna cook for about
two minutes per side. Today I'm using Canadian bacon. It's pretty traditional, but
you could use regular bacon. You could use a smoked
salmon. That you don't cook. Really, so many different things. I think the name changes, but
it's basically the same thing. Flip that over and let
it cook on both sides. The bacon cooks pretty quickly. I'm cooking in batches, and
as soon as this one's done, I'm gonna start my eggs. Those look nice. That looks nice to me. Oh, right. Now, to the eggs. This is simmering away. I'm gonna stir in a quarter
teaspoon of vinegar. It'll help the eggs hold together. You just don't wanna add too much. When I go to hotels and have poached eggs, oftentimes, they are like so vinegary, they're using way too much. Gently tip the egg into the center, and you're gonna let it just cook for about three to five minutes. It really depends on how
well done you want the yolk. While my first egg is poaching, I'm gonna pop my split English
muffins into the toaster to get nice and crispy.
(bright music) One, two, three, four, and toast. You really don't want a rolling boil when you poach your egg. It should be the gentlest of simmers because all that movement in the water will rip your egg apart and you won't have that
beautifully poached egg. If this is too intimidating
for you, it's fine. Breakfast should be low stress. You could do a coddled egg
instead. Very easy to make. This looks nice! And the toast is done. Okay, set these aside. It'll help to have a plate
that's like nice and warm from the microwave, or
your warming drawer. And that way the eggs won't get cold. (bright music) (bright music continues) Eggs Benny, ready to assemble. So grab two slices of your Canadian bacon and place that on the English muffin. One poached egg on top. And most importantly, you're gonna spoon over a generous amount of Hollandaise sauce. It's the best part, in my humble opinion. Garnish with some fresh chives. And just like that, you're ready to enjoy! This sauce is so rich
and velvety. Oh my gosh. (bright music) Look at that yolk. That's a perfect bite. I could eat 10 of these
and just keep going. They're so good. Crispy,
creamy, salty, gooey, amazing. I hope you get a chance
to make this recipe. And if you like this video,
check out my breakfast playlist. (bright music)
