For me, the whole reason to go to De Dutch is for the pannekoeken. What's so great about this "pannekoeken"? Well, it's the size of your plate (approx 12" or 30cm), is kind of like a thick crepe or a thin pancake, and is neutral for either sweet or savoury add-ins or toppings. Although De Dutch offers 6 different traditional eggs benedict dishes on their menu (which I will try at some point), none are made with the pannekoeken. The pannekoeken that is closest to eggs benny is the Amsterkoek, which is what I ordered. Our server informed us that the Amsterkoek is what people order when they want an eggs benny pannekoeken, so I knew I made the right choice. It is topped with poached eggs, edam cheese, ham, tomato, and comes with a bowl of fat sauce. I requested that the chef just put everything on top, but when it came the sauce was in a bowl and so were the eggs (you can see an imprint from one of the bowls in my cheese in the pic). The bowls were fine, because this way the cooking water from the eggs didn't make my pannekoeken soggy. So I assembled it myself to how I thought it should look.. this was the DIY part... and then took a picture.. sorry I didn't take a "before" picture.
Now, I was ready to cut into it and revel in the goodness that is Benny after a week of involuntary abstinence. Because the pannekoeken is so big, I had to spread the sauce and other toppings out well to get some of everything in each bite... I could have used some extra fat sauce! I really enjoyed the added flavour of the melted edam cheese in this DIY benny. Maybe this was because I don't eat a lot of cheese and usually benny doesn't come with cheese, atleast not traditionally. I managed to stretch the toppings out enough to atleast have each bite contain most of them, but not always all. Hmmm... what can I say? It was exactly what I was hoping it would be. The sauce was creamy and hollandaise-y. I would be surprised if they don't make it from scratch at this chain, if only because I associate "Dutch" with "Holland-aise". I know, not the best reasoning, but that's how I think! The eggs were cooked soft like I prefer. I think if I were to assemble this again, I would spread the ham slices out a bit more because they were all sort of piled in the middle. I liked the addition of fresh tomato and it went well with the cheese and pannekoeken.
Conclusion: Without having tried the 6 variations of eggs benedict that De Dutch has to offer, I think it would be unfair to compare this DIY benny on the same scale. Overall, I really enjoyed this "eggs benny" and while it satisfied my eggs benny craving and was delicious, I will have to continue the search for the BEST eggs benedict EVER!
http://www.dedutch.com/
Mmmm...that looks great! And the "fat sauce" or hollandaise, is really simple to make and it should be within the realm of capable for any restaurant. In fact, I used to work at a restaurant and we would make it from scratch every morning. The following is a simple delicious way to make hollandaise!
ReplyDeleteCarefully strain 3 - 5 egg yolks to seperate the yolk from the clear.
Drop the yolks into a stainless steel bowl.
Clarify some real butter. (clarify = melt it and strain off top of butter and leave only the clearest of buttery liquid).
Next you want to slowly ladle the warm butter almost drip by drip or use a small spoon to do this into the egg yolks while someone continuously whips the yolks with a whisk as the butter is slowly added.
This step should be done while the stainless bowl is hovering over top of a boiling pot of water so that the mixture is heated a little bit. BUT BE CAREFUL to not heat up the mixture too much or it will turn into scrambled eggs!
You will notice that the sauce (eggs) will start to lighten up in color and thicken up as the butter is added and the whole thing is slightly heated. When it feels like it has a nice thick consistency (basically when whisking the whole sauce mixture should sort of move around the bowl when whisking).
Now for the final part, and this is the secret for most high end restaurants, you add a pinch of salt and white pepper and a squeeze or two of lemon or sometimes an orange to cut the mixture a bit (it will go from being thick to thin again) and this step also adds a nice light zing of taste that if not added, the hollandaise will taste like butter only.
Enjoy the sauce quickly and chill it quickly when it is made. YUM YUM!