Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is a deservedly famous Anglo-Saxon breakfast: cooked ham on toast, poached eggs, topped with a silky, lemony hollandaise sauce.

Hollandaise sauce

1. Whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice over steam (the bowl should not touch the water), whisking constantly, into a pale, frothy cream.

2. Drizzle in the melted, lukewarm butter in a thin stream, whisking all the while, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper, and keep it lukewarm.

To serve

3. Bring water to the boil in a pot, salt it, sour it with a little vinegar, then stir a whirlpool in it with a spoon.

4. Slide the eggs one by one into the centre of the whirlpool, and poach them in about 3 minutes – the white should set, the yolk stay runny.

5. Toast the bread slices and layer the cooked ham onto them.

6. Place a poached egg on each, drizzle generously with the hollandaise sauce, and serve immediately, sprinkled with freshly ground pepper.

Tip: The hollandaise sauce splits if it gets too hot – if the butter is hot or the steam strong, the egg yolk curdles. Work lukewarm and patiently throughout, and if it starts to thicken, take it off the steam.