True inventor of eggs Benedict remains a mystery

Eggs Benedict is a unique American dish often served for breakfast or brunch. It is anchored by a split English muffin that has been lightly toasted. In its most basic form, each English muffin half is topped with Canadian bacon, a poached egg and Hollandaise sauce.

 

Just as the English muffin itself was invented in New York City, the eggs Benedict dish was created in The Big Apple, too. But there’s a ton of mystery still associated with the origin of eggs Benedict.

Perhaps the dish was first served at the original Delmonico’s restaurant in New York City that was opened in 1837 by brothers Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico, who were Italian-Swiss immigrants. Located in the heart of the financial center of the world, this was America’s first fine dining restaurant. 

Author Rachel Wharton believes that Emma Frances “Fannie” Gardner Benedict was the “reason” for the creation of eggs Benedict. She married LeGrand Lockwood Benedict in 1863, while he was serving as an officer in the Union army during the Civil War. The couple “enjoyed the unusual experience of a two months’ honeymoon in camp.”

 

Back in New York City for the duration of the war, Fannie Benedict, a writer, was among a group of educated women who dined frequently at Delmonico’s (the first restaurant to allow women to dine by themselves), Wharton wrote. The story goes: Fannie Benedict had grown weary of the regular menu, so she asked the kitchen to try something new for lunch. 

Frenchman Charles Ranhofer, the head chef at Delmonico’s, claimed to create “Eggs à la Benedick” just for her. Many years later (in 1912), the second edition of Ranhofer’s cookbook described how to make the dish:

 

“Cut some muffins in halves crosswise, toast them without allowing to brown, then place a round of cooked ham an eighth of an inch thick and of the same diameter as the muffins on each half. Heat in a moderate oven and put a poached egg on each toast. Cover the whole with Hollandaise sauce.”

 

(Ranhofer didn’t specifically refer to English muffins. They were invented by baker Samuel Bath Thomas in the early 1880s.)

Perhaps a more logical English muffin story involves retired Wall Street stockbroker Lemuel Benedict in 1894. Hoping to cure a morning hangover, Lemuel Benedict entered the restaurant inside New York City’s Waldorf Hotel and ordered “buttered toast, two poached eggs, crisp bacon and a hooker of Hollandaise.” (Food writer Rupert Taylor defines a hooker as being “somewhere between a splash and a slosh.”)

 

The hotel’s maître d’ was Oscar Tschirky (shown below). He tweaked Lemuel Benedict’s breakfast – the toast was replaced by an English muffin and Canadian bacon was substituted for crisp bacon.

 

Billy Oliva, the current executive chef at Delmonico’s, confirmed that eggs Benedict is a “good hangover food combination,” because “it’s very rich. It’s also tricky to make, so it’s an item that people don’t want to try at home.”

 

Then there is Elias Cornelius Benedict, a New York financier and yachtsman, who was nicknamed “Commodore.” He claimed the recipe for eggs Benedict came from his mother who died in 1885.

 

Wharton said: “The first written recipe appeared in the February 1897 issue of Table Talk magazine, written by Cornelia C. Bedford, the former principal of the New York Cooking School.

The creators of “The Food We Know” website offered: “In the end, does it matter who ‘concocted’ the first eggs Benedict? Certain pairings are fated to be together. Perhaps eggs Benedict is not a ‘100% invented dish’ but an evolution.”