Eggs Benedict

   Eggs Benedict is a dish of poached eggs and broiled ham placed on an English muffin and topped with hollandaise sauce. The dish is a standard in fine restaurants and is well accepted by gourmet diners. But who originated this delightful combination has never been satisfactorily determined. One authority credits the invention of this dish to an American banker named E. C. Benedict. Another attributes its creation to one of the country's leading fine restaurants, the legendary Delmonico Restaurant in New York City. According to this story, regular customers Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand Benedict complained to the maitre d'hotel that the menu had nothing new on it. Out of this colloquy came the now internationally famous recipe: eggs Benedict.

   According to a report of Wilfred Funk on the origin of eggs Benedict, in the year 1894 a certain Samuel Benedict, a man-about-town and a member of New York's cafe society, came into the old Waldorf-Astoria on 34th Street with a wicked hangover. He knew precisely what he wanted for his breakfast. He ordered bacon, buttered toast, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce. Oscar, famous maitre d'hotel, was impressed with the dish. He substituted ham and a toasted English muffin in place of the bacon and toast, and named the whole affair eggs Benedict in honor of the genial rake.