Xmas Breakfast Trial Run
 

Hosting our annual Eggs Benedict Family breakfast next Saturday. Hosting a few days early because some family has to be back in the Mac for Xmas.

So, usually I use toasted English muffins and do Eggs Benny to order for 20 people. Home Smoked Back Bacon fried to order.
But this year I am looking for efficiencies as I am getting too old to pull this off and still have Joy in my heart.

So like in the hotel-I will partially pre-poach all the eggs the night before and shock them in ice water-Cool and place them on parchment on a perforated 12" x 20"Hotel Pan.Have a solid Hotel pan with my poaching liquid ready to go and just flash the entirety of the eggs to temp in unison.

Slicing the English muffins, toasting them 4 at a time also was a pain. So this year I have a Waffle Plate for my Cuisinart Griddler. Each batch makes 4 small rectangular 2oz waffles.On the day pre-made and shingled on Baking sheets to be flashed to temp and crisped up in a hot oven

So today I am testing savoury waffles that the family will have never tasted before. Figured Brown Butter and Fresh Sage incorporated right into the batter. Each run of waffles requires 4 minutes in the iron.
On the day the Back Bacon will be pre-sliced and laid into concentric rings in my tableside chafing dish and heated in Brown Butter til hot and tender.

Pan of Swartzies will be brought in last minutes from the Pit Boss lightly smoked.
Fruit Platter mostly Berries and some Malibu Rum Marinated Pineapple.
3 liters of Hollandaise held in my big Thermos Vac Bottle

Ring the Breakfast Bell and yell "Come and Git it" next Saturday morning.

Build your own Benny Bar:sHa_shakeshout:

Easy Peasey.

What do you folks like to do for a seamless breakfast for a crowd?

Never mind what I make for Christmas breakfast.
I'm coming to your place.

Usually friend and family invited as well, But was too much so limited to just immediate family this year.
Last year had folks trying to take home slabs of Back Bacon and unopened bottles from my Liquor Cabinet without asking. The sense of entitlement was nearing Politician levels:(

I swore I would never host another event. But off course got guilted by my wife for a Family only breakfast.

Already have about 10 people quite pizzed off and not talking to me because of this change:)
One couple have phoned us daily for the last 4 days to try and guilt me into changing my mind.

Great planning. Sounds like an efficient, yet tasty, operation. Not to hijack your thread or add any complexity to your plan, but the eggs benny reminded me of a low carb twist that can be put on them, that a foodie friend of mine suggested. In place of the English muffin, fry a similarly sized crab cake. And instead of hollandaise over the egg, substitute it with dark brown roux cooked in cajun spices.

Voila - Cajun Eggs Benedict.

If I lived closer, I'd give you a cup of roux. I make a quart at a time and store them in sealed jam jars in the fridge. You never know when the sudden need for gumbo will hit....

The Crab Cake Base is a great idea, but I struggle with the Roux being a low carb option. But a Cajun Hollandiase over a thin sliced Tasso Covered Crab Cake is now stuck in my head for another time. Great Idea.

Not sure 40 crab cakes are within my budget at the moment

Good point. Maybe "lower carb" is a better descriptor. Great suggestion on the Tasso. I was thinking some nice shrimp cooked in the roux would go nicely as well.

I'm struggling to see how roux is lower carb than hollandaise. Hollandaise is essentially egg yolks and butter (fat + fat) and roux is flour fried in fat (carbs + fat). How is carbs + fat less carbs than fat + fat? I've got to be missing something here...

ARG

That is a great sounding breakfast but you need to seriously edit your friend/family list if people are stealing from you or being so dickish as to make a fuss over not being invited this year. Mayhaps, they would like to host in return one year.

Hope this year goes better for you.

To be honest the issues with entitlement to my liquor and pantry is all from extended family on my wife's side. Cousins, nieces and their husbands.

They have been permanently removed from the invite list. I did have a few too many drinks this last summer and told them all why they were not invited to future functions at our house.

But it is our good friends that are hurt and vocal about the un-invite from a 10 year tradition of attendance.

Nieces , cousins etc show up to every family function with a bag of tupperware to strip out leftovers. If I offered a beer, they say sure, but would like it unopened to take home. Not even kidding.:sHa_shakeshout:

I really hate people more every year.

All I've been able to think about for the past couple days is eggs Benedict.

We usually put very little effort into Christmas morning breakfast, but you've inspired me.
Eggs benny is easily my favorite breakfast, so why wouldn't I make it for Christmas morning?
What's your hollandaise sauce recipe?

No written recipe. Just 40 years of practice:) Much easier to just show someone than ever try to explain

Yolks
Clarified Butter
Cayenne
Lemon
Peppercorn Wine Reduction

Rest is just technique to avoid scrambling the eggs or breaking the emulsion.

Must be great easy recipes out in AO land

Stealing liquor bottles? Quite the friends and/or family you have invited in the past...LOL

Well if Family can't bend you over-Then who can?:sHa_shakeshout:


Too many years of being the nice guy.

Oh Man I love this back bacon. Would you mind if I grabbed a couple slices for breakfast tomorrow.

Sure, Help Yourself.

Eventually turns into expectation and entitlement over the years.
Totally my fault.

MIL passed away in May , The bad eggs were all of her adult Grandchildren.so no longer any need to keep my feelings bottled inside to keep the peace any longer.

All good things come to an end:fighting0021:

I'm good to go for Christmas brekky as well.:sHa_shakeshout:

And like you, I try to plan ahead and work ahead so I can enjoy breakfast without the "helter Skelter".

This year I've decided to go with"Frosted Flakes" to celebrate the re election of the Liberals.:thinking-006:

I have already been to 'Costco" for the large box of cereal and have decided to substitute "half and half" for 1% just to be decadent. I like to add a few sliced strawberries for the festive look, but they will be added when I serve at the table with panache and flair. The kids love it. adults not so much but hey, Christmas is for the kids , right?

Merry Christmas to you all!!!:sHa_shakeshout:

I may get shot from some of the pro chefs out there but I use a blender to make hollandaise. It's hard enough poaching enough eggs for a group to have to worry about the sauce too...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/84...andaise-sauce/

No issues with that. Looks simple and tasty.

One year I had a sales rep really pumped and excited try to sell me dehydrated sheets of Hollandaise. He was sure it was going to change the world. Cut like a deck of cards. Idea was to assemble your Eggs Benny-shingle the Hollandaise sheets on top and put in the steamer til hydrated.
Was just like eating a wrung out Magic Eraser Sheet:sHa_shakeshout:

Our Christmas morning tradition includes a breakfast quiche which my wife handles supported by my pile of peameal back bacon, momosas or caesars and finished with coffee and baileys. I do miss when the girls were little and jumping on our bed at 6 am but now when that they are just into their 20s, we have to wake them up and there is usually nothing for me to try and assemble...Happy Noels All.

Sounds fantastic. A time saver for me is throwing two or three dozen eggs into the Sous Vide pot an hour before hand. Toast English muffins under the broiler all at once. You still have to crack each egg, but if it's an assemble yourself station, each person can do their own. Broilers are time sensitive obviously and of course I've never burnt a whole bunch of muffins while tending to other things like the Hollandaise!

Sounds like you have quite the family to contend with. Maybe just have a few of us over instead, way easier on the liquor cabinet. :lol:

Grizz

Wow sounds like it is going to be a delicious morning. I wish i was on the list to come down and join.
To me Christmas time is about family and friends getting together and enjoying the time. When it becomes to much work it no longer enjoyable, especilly when being taken advantage of.

I wish you and your extremely lucky guests a Meery Christmas. May this year bring back your enjoyment of the occasion. Cheers.

got excited there for a minute . Thought it was an AO thing , lol . Sounds good :)

opening day for my cow elk so I will sitting in the hills anyways

Eggs Benny is our go to for Xmas breakfast too. I just discovered the waffle base this summer. Our E-muffins went bad prematurely on a planned Saturday breakfast, so pancakes were suggested as an alternate. That lead to the waffle iron and a kick butt eggs benny breakfast.
btw, we just use the instant hollandaise sauce (flame me now!), but I thin it out a bit. I usually find it a bit rich.

The lower carb piece comes from substituting the crab cake (2g of carbs if made without breadcrumbs) for the half slice of english muffin (23 carbs). 1/4 cup of roux is approx 4 carbs.

Well, I've made eggs benny twice over the holidays so far, and it was great.
I have to thank omega50 for the inspiration to do so.
And I should also thank jpohlic for the hollandaise sauce recipe. I made the first batch in the blender, and just used an electric hand mixer the second time around.

How did your breakfast turn out?

Glad to hear it turned out.First time I pre-prepped/pre-poached the day before. Learned a few things that I might adjust, but overall was so chill not doing 2x 35-40 pax to order and making 220 slices of back bacon.The waffles were a hit and help copious amounts of Hollandaise-no spills.
In Fact I think Eggs Benny for breakfast tomorrow for my wife and I would be perfect:)