Eggs benedict is the star, the Marilyn Monroe, of brunch. It is an indulgence dish invariably prefixed with: “Oh, I shouldn’t, really.” It’s the addition of rich, unctuous hollandaise to the perfectly catholic and unimpeachably healthy Anglo-Saxon poached egg and bacon that makes it feel greedy. Then there’s the option of having one or two eggs, though a single benedict is a sorry thing; a double is gastronomy. I always thought they should call the single the Benedict and the double the Benedict and Beatrice.

Benedict comes from America, from New York, the city of public eating. One creation story is from the Waldorf, the hotel that gave us the salad. The New Yorker ran an interview with a cove called Lemuel Benedict, who took a monster hangover to the Waldorf and ordered hot, buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs and a hooker of hollandaise. The chef was intrigued, substituted an English muffin for toast, Canadian bacon (back) for crisp (streaky), and there you are: a legend was born. The thing that really convinces me, though, is the hangover. Hangovers make people eat desperate things – prairie oysters, for instance. Eggs benedict is still the best morning-after dish ever invented.

Serves 2

4 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 shallots, coarsely chopped
10 peppercorns
175g butter, cut into cubes
3 egg yolks
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt
4 eggs, poached
4 muffins, toasted
4 slices of ham
Good pinch of cayenne pepper
Good pinch of chopped chives

First, make the sauce: put the vinegar, shallots and peppercorns in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then continue to boil until reduced by about two-thirds. Strain the reduction into a glass bowl and set aside.

Clarify the butter by melting it in a heavy pan set over a gentle heat. Skim the foam off the surface until only clear liquid remains. Remove from the heat and leave the butter to cool until tepid, then carefully tip out into a clean bowl, leaving behind any solid residue.

Next, place a round heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the egg yolks and the vinegar reduction. Beat the mixture over the heat until it forms a smooth, thick, pale mass. Remove from the heat and whisk vigorously, adding enough of the clarified butter to make a thick, creamy sauce. To make a lovely, fluffy hollandaise, it is important to whisk in the same direction all the time. This technique takes muscle and commitment, probably even a few trips to the gym. It may not be exact the first time, but practice makes perfect.

If the sauce separates, beat a fresh egg yolk with a spoonful of water in a clean bowl, then whisk the separated sauce into that; it should magically form a smooth sauce again. Adjust the flavour with a little lemon juice and salt, to taste. Keep warm.

Put the eggs on to poach. Remove a thin slice from the top of each muffin, then put them on to toast. Keep the grill on.

Butter the toasted muffins, then arrange the ham on top. Make a thumb or spoon print in the middle of each – a neat hollow for the eggs – then put them back under the grill briefly to warm up.

When the eggs are poached, drain them well and season with salt. Carefully place the eggs in the prepared hollows on the muffins and ladle over the hollandaise. Garnish with a sprinkling of cayenne pepper and chives.

Extract taken from Breakfast at the Wolseley by AA Gill, published by Quadrille on May 16 at £12.99. Buy it for £11.69 (inc p&p) through The Sunday Times BooksFirst on 0870 165 8585

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