Eggs Benedict Eggs Benedict Eggs Benedict, also informally known as Eggs Benny, is a traditional American breakfast or brunch dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin topped with a poached egg, bacon or ham, and hollandaise sauce. The dish was first popularized in New York City. Many variations on the basic recipe are served. There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of Eggs Benedict. Delmonico's in lower Manhattan says on its menu that "Eggs Benedict was first created in our ovens in 1860." One of its former chefs, Charles Ranhofer, also published the recipe for "Eggs à la
Hollandaise sauce in English as early as 1573, though without a recipe showing that it was the same thing. The first documented recipe is from 1651 in La Varenne's "Le Cuisinier François" for ""asparagus with fragrant sauce"": La Varenne is credited with bringing sauces out of the Middle Ages with his publication and may well have invented hollandaise sauce. A more recent name for it is "sauce Isigny", named after Isigny-sur-Mer, which is famous for its butter. Isigny sauce is found in recipe books starting in the 19th century. By the 19th century, sauces had been classified into four categories by Carême.