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Here are today’s five thing to know about Egg Benedict:
  1. Eggs Blackstone substitutes streaky bacon for the ham and adds a tomato slice.
  2. Huevos Benedict substitutes avocado for the ham, and is topped with both salsa and hollandaise sauce.
  3. Eggs Sardou substitutes artichoke bottoms and crossed anchovy fillets for the English muffin and ham, then tops the hollandaise sauce with chopped ham and a truffle slice. The dish was created at Antoine’s Restaurant in New Orleans in honor of the French playwright Victorien Sardou. A more widespread version of the dish starts with a base of creamed spinach, substitutes artichoke bottoms for the English muffin, and eliminates the ham.
  4. Portobello Benedict substitutes Portobello mushrooms for the ham, and is a popular alternative for Catholics observing the Friday Fast.
  5. Eggs Provençal replaces the Hollandaise sauce with Béarnaise Sauce.

Fun Fact:

Historians attribute the invention of Eggs Benedict to two different events.
Origin Story 1:  In the 1860’s, a regular patron of the restaurant, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, finding nothing to her liking and wanting something new to eat for lunch, discussed this with Chef Charles Ranhofer(1936-1899), Ranhofer came up with Eggs Benedict.
Origin Story 2:  In 1894, Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street broker, who was suffering from a hangover, ordered “some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce” at the Waldorf Hotel in New York. The Waldorf’s legendary chef, Oscar Tschirky, was so impressed that he put the dish on his breakfast and luncheon menus after substituting Canadian bacon for crisp bacon and a toasted English muffin for toasted bread.