Don't Make This Last-Minute Eggs Benedict Mistake

Few breakfast meals are as delectable and beloved as a traditional eggs benedict, but a few wrong moves can ruin all your efforts. When making eggs benedict, many would agree that the most challenging part is making the hollandaise sauce. 

There's a reason that countless YouTube videos are dedicated to "No-fail" recipes for the lemony, buttery topping — it can go wrong real fast. As The Tasty Tip points out, keeping the heat on the low side will prevent you from prematurely cooking the egg yolk, turning the sauce into a clumpy mess. Per Kitchn, the other trick is to constantly whisk and slowly incorporate the butter, hot water, and egg yolks so brunch can proceed as planned. 

But hollandaise isn't the only thing that could foil an eggs benedict. There's one other component many forget to consider, and it just so happens that this error could ruin your progress right at the last minute. So, what is this mishap, and how can you avoid it? 

The other tricky component of an eggs benedict is poaching an egg. But it turns out, the actual poaching isn't always where most home cooks go wrong, but rather, being too rough with the egg after it's cooked. 

However, unlike hollandaise sauce, which is tricky from the get-go, there's an easy fix to avoid breaking a poached egg. In an episode of Duff Goldman's "The Best Thing I Ever Made," the pastry chef urges home cooks to take the eggs out of the pot as carefully as possible. Referring to his poached egg as "a fragile butterfly," Goldman jokes that instead of shaking off any excess water, the trick is to let it drain at its own pace. "None of this!" he laughs, comically jiggling an imaginary slotted spoon. Lisa Bryan of Downshiftology seconds this advice. In her video detailing how to poach eggs, she too scoops her egg out with a slotted spoon and holds it still while it drains. Lesson learned: no jiggling here! 

An eggs benedict is a treat for any brunch or breakfast menu, so it definitely pays to give each element the time it deserves. From hollandaise to poached eggs, good things take time.