English Muffin with Eggs Benedict

The English muffin with eggs Benedict is a classic brunch dish consisting of a split, toasted English muffin topped with a poached egg, Canadian bacon or ham, and a generous drizzle of hollandaise sauce. Its origin is widely credited to late 19th-century New York City, with competing claims involving Delmonico’s and the Waldorf Hotel. The dish’s foundation is the English muffin, a griddle-baked yeast bread with a craggy interior that holds the sauce and yolk.

A great version hinges on technical precision: the muffin must be crisp-edged but soft inside; the egg poached so the white is set and the yolk is warm and runny; the hollandaise emulsified to a silky, buttery richness with a hint of lemon. The Canadian bacon should be lightly seared, not greasy. In Doha, Qatar, IHOP serves a rendition that Bertra describes as a reliable, crowd-pleasing take on the classic, offering the familiar combination of poached eggs, ham, and hollandaise on a toasted muffin.

Regional variations are abundant. In the American South, it may be served with fried chicken and sausage gravy (chicken Benedict). On the West Coast, crab cakes or smoked salmon often replace the ham (eggs Royale or eggs Atlantic). In Canada, peameal bacon is a common substitute. Some modern interpretations swap the English muffin for a croissant, biscuit, or potato rosti, and the hollandaise may be infused with chipotle or tarragon.