The History of Eggs Benedict

The origins of Eggs Benedict are murky, but two origin stories stand out. Based on these stories, it is likely that the dish was created in New York during the latter half of the 1800s. The first version of the story holds that the popular brunch dish was created at Delmonico’s Restaurant in Lower Manhattan. Supposedly, chef Charles Ranhofer created the dish in the 1860s when Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, one of his regular diners, expressed boredom with the existing menu and requested something new. He called the resulting dish Eggs a la Benedict and later published a recipe for it in his 1894 cookbook. A rival version of the story claims that Lemuel Benedict accidentally created the dish in 1894. The story goes that after a night of drinking, Benedict wandered into the Waldorf Hotel in Manhattan. He ordered several components of what would later become known as Eggs Benedict (though he did request bacon instead of Canadian bacon and toast rather than an English muffin). The hotel’s maître d’, Oscar Tschirsky, reportedly saw the order and thought it looked appetizing, so he added it to the menu but swapped the bacon for Canadian bacon and included an English muffin instead of toast. Tschirsky is also credited with creating the famous Waldorf Salad. Even more notably, Tschirsky was also a former employee of Delmonico’s and worked there when Eggs a la Benedict was reportedly being created. This makes it possible that both versions of the story are true and, in fact, the people in both stories may very well have contributed to the making of the modern Eggs Benedict dish that we know and love today!