New month means a new gutsy host!

Shandy of Patry Heaven has chosen our next four menus starting with the perfect options to served on a Sunday brunch – at least in my mind.

English Muffins - page 76
Eggs Benedict - page 138

To make one, you need the other, so first up in the English Muffin. Out of the all the breads that I like during breakfast, English Muffins are my favorite. They are not too bready, have tons of holes, which mean that when toasted they come out nice and crunchy, the perfect vessel for some butter, honey, jam or become the base ingredient in the traditional New York brunch dish Eggs Benedict, which is our next choice.

When it comes to the origin of Eggs Benedict, food historians tell us, there two stories and that we will never know which one is true. Both versions take place in 1893/94 in posh New York restaurants and attribute the name to wealthy people named Benedict. All of this information is neatly summed up in this Web site (which was referenced in a recent New York Times article).

But, where it came from is not important, how to make it is. And the eggs benedict have 2 more components besides the homemade muffins. A poach egg and the warm hollandaise Sauce. If you been with us from the beginning, we made the hollandaise sauce back in menu 4, which was used to top our Wild Mushroom Tartlets. So if you chicken out then, here you go, your opportunity to give it another try is here again. The recipes can be found in page 37, 282 or under the technique menu in page 516 - plenty of options.

Then there is the technique of poaching the eggs. The book also helps you here by showing you on page 588. Or you can run a Google search that is going to come back with over 94,000+ results, 2,000 of those are videos. So there are plenty of references if you have never done this. I found out that the biggest debate is weather to swirl the water or not swirl, creating a vortex - so many options! How about if I give you one more.?

I read somewhere to use a square of saran wrap over a bowl and push it down. Then crack the egg into the bowl. Twist the Sarah wrap at the top and drop into the boiling water. Would I be gutsy enough to try this new method?

Guess we will have to wait and see. Just like I cannot wait to see what you guys come up with.

Lets get it going!