The Mystery of the Eggs Benedict
LEGEND OR REALITY?
what do you call them? benedict or benedictines ? And do you know why? The recipe is the same, but they have different origins. whose are you? Who do you believe?
1. Eggs Benedict:
It all started as so many things start. And many more end. On a hungover morning. Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street stockbroker and lover of the New York good life, woke up one day in 1894 with that typical discomfort of a long night of partying . That pounding in the head and that stomach curled in on itself that seem incurable. But Benedict did not forgive a breakfast . He got up, went to the restaurant of the old Waldorf Astoria hotel (the one on Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street) and asked the cook for two poached eggs, bacon, toast with butter and, on the side, a little saucepan. dutch That thought he would cure his legendary hangover.
We don't know if Lemuel got better. But his recipe did make history . Oscar, the famous Waldorf maître d', took note of the combination, replaced the bacon with ham and the toast with English muffin and added it to the menu, baptizing the dish "Benedict eggs".
This was the story told by the magazine The New Yorker in an article in 1942, giving credibility to the legend that, as much as the heirs of Lemuel Benedict wanted, could never be confirmed. Among other things, because Oscar never mentioned it in his recipe books, interviews or memoirs.
And who are you, Benedict or Benedictine?
two. Eggs Benedict:
This is the one defending Delmonico's , one of the oldest restaurants still open in New York. According to the local classic, the succulent and functional delicacy was created by his chef back in the 1860s for a couple of regular customers, Mr and Mrs LeGrand Benedictine , who were bored of the usual menu.
And how did you come up with this recipe? This is where the doubts come in: could be something fortuitous ; or, as some gossips say, the idea came about because someone had heard of a dish that a hangover came up with at the Waldorf Astoria. Was that hangover Lemuel Benedict? Was it Oscar? Although the dates dance and the data too, the result was that at Delmonico's they baptized their new successful dish as “Eggs Benedict” . And even today, it is one of the places in New York where you have to go to eat them.
A dish created for customers Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand Benedictine
TAKE THIS HANGOVER OUT OF ME
We suppose that due to its wonderful healing power, Benedict eggs (I believe more in Lemuel's sprees) even have a national day in the United States, on april 16 . And, despite the fact that they are not right now on the crest of the gastronomic trend, there are few restaurants with brunch that dare to remove them from their menus. At most, they risk and challenge the original recipe, changing the ham for salmon, the muffin for a croissant... There are varieties of different caloric levels.
There are the classics: Sarabeth's; Balthazar or Barbounia (we are still waiting for Pastis to reopen) .
The most daring: Parker & Quinn (where they are served with Alabama crab cake and Creole sauce); Au Za'atar (where they are served with kafta meat and spicy Moroccan sauce), The Chester (with avocado, chorizo and a cheddar cheese scone)
The daring with crab cake and Creole sauce
And the cuquis: Barchetta (with Scottish salmon and a bed of greens, instead of a muffin), Jane (where you can choose the classics, with crab or lobster) .
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The cuckoo-eggs