Eggs Benedictine
We had numerous discussions in America about what exactly constituted Eggs Benedict. I couldn't remember exactly what the dish contained - or even if there was such a dish. I remembered Eggs Benedictine and Eggs Arnold Bennett but assumed that Eggs Benedict was an American view of one of these. Just tonight I decided to track the dish down. I used:
The Cookery Repertoire 13th edition Le Repertoire de la Cuisine (L. Saulnier - Trans: E.Brunet_
The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery (1907) (A. Escoffier - Trans: H.L. Cracknell & R.J. Kaufmann)
Professional Cookery - The Process Approach: Daniel R Stevenson
Advanced Practical Cookery 2nd edition: Ceserani, Kinton and Foskett
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggs_Benedict
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/article/56/19018First of all - all the dishes use Poached eggs - so the name following 'egg' is a garnish. Eggs Benedict seems to be a modern abbreviation of Eggs Benedictine. There are lots of recipes around the internet for Benedict and all seem to involve Ham as well as the standard Hollandaise Sauce and Toasted Muffin. However, the original (assuming that we take Escoffier as an original recipe writer) consisted of a cooked pastry case, covered with Brandade of salt cod (a fish paste, roughly the consistency of mashed potato, mixed with chopped truffle), then soft poached egg and sauce creme. This rich and probably very filling dish seemed to have dropped out of vogue in the 60's. It seems to have reappeared on toasted muffin, layered with tongue and becomes topped off with Hollandaise sauce and Truffle. Later recipes suggest that the tongue may be replaced with ham! Modern recipes show ham and no truffle and no 'ine' becoming Eggs Benedict. In the States, we found that some cafes had no ham, some had raw (Serrano type) ham and some had huge lumps of fatty gammon-like ham. There seems to be no consistency. For me, it would be nice to see the dish served on toasted muffin with just a little wilted spinach replacing the meat, then egg covered with tarragon flavoured hollandaise (bearnaise) and then - if you like - just a pinch of finely sliced tongue. Top dish! 
Please click to visit the picture owners sites on Flickr. I didn't photograph any of the dishes.
Arnold Bennett has smoked haddock and it gratinated just before service - I think (can't find it again ...)
