homemade eggs benedict

I absolutely love eggs benedict. I order it whenever I can - and I always wonder, it's seriously just a poached egg, a couple of slices of ham or smoked salmon (if you're lucky) and toast or muffins - why on earth is it so expensive?

So one day, my partner had this huge desire to make eggs benedict for me - and it was only after making it did I understand why people charged so much for it. It's because it's so stupidly time-consumingly difficult to make the hollandaise sauce (or maybe we were doing something wrong) that we might as well just pay for it to be done on a plate.

We had a few recipes to copy from, each saying similar but not exactly the same things. At the end, this is how it was made (this time):

I decided to use 3 egg yolks - beat them over a water bath til they were creamy and light and thick using a balloon whisk. They say it's supposed to take 3 minutes - but I swear I took longer.
Then we melted half a block of butter and slowly, spoon by spoon, added it to the mixed egg yolks (it's meant to take 10 mins to put all the butter in). This was hectic whisking action. Then we added 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (again, bit by bit) and whisked some more.

Simple? Well the thing is, it's hard to keep the texture of the hollandaise nice and thick. Once you add the butter or the vinegar or the lemon juice in, it thins the mixture again and you have to whisk away til it's thick again. It was all a bit hectic, thought I. But in the end, it was done (and if you're wondering why my partner's attempt at making me an awesome brunch ended up with me doing all the work, well...)

My partner made the perfect poached eggs. Just the right amount of eggy runniness. Water filled saucepan, bit of vinegar and in slide the egg for just a few minutes. Assemble it all with toast, smoked salmon, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce and sprinkle some chives on top? Perfect!

Perfect homemade eggs benedict

I have to say, it took an hour to complete this. Was it worth it? Well... as my partner said, it's cheaper to make it yourself than at a cafe. And I think it even tastes nicer home-made (cos then you can have as much or as little of anything you want). And it gave us something awesome (albiet tiring) to do for an hour... So, sometimes it may be worth it? If you're already tired and you just want a chillaxy Saturday, go out and eat it :P BUT - it was sweet (so if you're reading this, you are most welcome to make it for me again someday)