Molly Makes Eggs Benedict for a Crowd

You guys, I'm kinda nervous.

Okay, hold on.

Just gettin' it out.

Okay.

(clanking) Oops.

Eggs benedict.

You should be making them at home

and you're probably not doing that

because hollandaise has to be whisked over a double-boiler.

Who's doing that?

Then, you're frantically poaching eggs

to order when your guests arrive.

I'm gonna show you a recipe for eggs benedict for a crowd,

where we prep and poach all of our eggs in advance

and make a quick-blender hollandaise.

That way, all that's left to do when your guests arrive

is toast your muffins and assemble,

and you're ready to go.

Brad is so loud.

Brad, we're filming.

You're being very loud. Pipe down.

Jeez, Louisiana.

So, first things first,

I'm gonna teach you a trick for poaching eggs in batches.

The most important thing when poaching eggs

is to crack your egg over a strainer

and gently allow the excess whites to drip down.

What's coming through the strainer here

are those scriggly-scraggly bits that end up

in your pot and make your eggs look a little bit wild,

so this is a technique for removing any of that

and yielding just a beautiful, little orb.

So, we're gonna do six eggs this way, in one batch.

So, we're gonna go over to the stove

and drop these into simmering water.

I actually like to poach my eggs in water

that's just below simmering, I think that a gentle cook

yields a more tender-poached egg,

so reduce it to a bare simmer,

and then we'll gently drop each of these eggs in.

One by one, and then I'll just take this lauded spoon

and gently move them around a bit

to encourage them to cook evenly.

I don't think the vortex method is necessary.

You can't, for example, cook all six at once in a vortex

and you have to drop them singularly,

but also, it's a really aggressive way to cook an egg

and I believe in a gentle poach.

These are gonna cook for two to three minutes,

until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny.

So, I'm gonna transfer these into an ice bath.

The ice bath stops the cooking,

which allows you to poach ahead of time,

hold them, and then gently reheat them right before serving.

So, all six in the ice bath,

and I'm gonna repeat with the remaining eggs.

We're gonna make our hollandaise in the blender here,

instead of standing over the stove,

whisking it over a double-boiler,

as you might do traditionally.

I have this filled with hot water, just to keep it warm.

So, I have here, two and a half sticks of melted butter.

I'm gonna reserve four tablespoons

to brush over my English muffins later on,

and now we're gonna make our hollandaise.

So, it starts with three egg yolks,

right in the blender.

And I have two tablespoons plus a teaspoon

of fresh lemon juice.

Those are gonna get blended, just briefly, to combine.

And now, with the motor still running,

I'm gonna slowly stream in the melted butter.

Typically, hollandaise is made with clarified butter.

I found that wasn't necessary.

Using melted butter yields a really beautiful texture.

You can actually hear the difference,

it's now getting thick.

Okay.

It's a creamy, emulsified, luxurious hollandaise sauce

that took 30 seconds.

So, I'm gonna transfer this into a bowl.

It has a lot of fat in it and a lot of lemon juice,

so we're gonna add a good amount of salt

to balance all of that.

I'm also gonna add a pinch of cayenne,

and then I'm gonna cover this in saran wrap

and just keep it warm by the stove

until we're ready to serve it up.

So, we did the heavy lifting already,

and now what's left to do is just toast our English muffins

and assemble the eggs benedict.

I'm gonna brush these with the remaining

quarter-cup of melted butter.

We've come this far with the butter sauce,

we're not gonna hold back now,

so I'm just gonna slather these guys

and throw them into a 450-degree oven for,

like, six minutes.

Okay, I'm gonna top them now,

each with a slice of ham.

Traditionally, eggs benedict is made with Canadian bacon,

but I prefer the delicate texture of the sliced ham,

so you can use whatever you want.

This is gonna go back into the oven

for just a minute to take the chill off of the ham.

So, it's been a minute, I'm gonna pull the ham out.

Now's the time to reheat our eggs.

I have all 12 eggs here, still in the ice bath.

I'm gonna drop them back into this pot of simmering water

and allow them to reheat for just one minute.

You don't want them to go any longer than a minute

because you don't wanna overcook the yolks,

and I'm gonna just drain them each

on a paper towel-lined baking sheet

so that they don't water up our English muffins.

So, eggs have been reheated,

ham is no longer cold,

and we're gonna just put each of these onto a platter

and then just gently, one by one,

the poached eggs, top the ham.

The hollandaise is still warm,

I'm just gonna whisk it back together.

If it feels a little bit thick,

you can add a tablespoon or two of warm water.

And then, last but not least,

spooning over our hollandaise.

Be generous, it's kinda what we're here for.

A little bit more cayenne to top,

and finally, sliced chives.

So, that took probably 30 minutes.

A couple time-saving tips, a couple tricks up your sleeve.

Eggs benedict is not that big a deal.

Hey Brad, you want an eggs bene?

Okay. (laughs)

I'll eat it. Okay, great.

Just a tiny hangover.

You do? Oh yeah, one glass of wine.

Who's counting?

That doesn't count.

[Woman] Really nice, that little

lemon in the-- It's really delicious.

Yeah. In the hollandaise mix,

what a difference.

Okay.

Alright, I'll just keep eating,

but you could probably stop getting me eating.