Newsletter # 58 – Oscar Tschirky – Eggs Benedict

by Ken · May 22, 2026

Not all famous dishes are named after royalty, ballerinas and chefs. Oscar Tschirky is a name that, outside of culinary circles, is probably unknown but his notoriety can be traced back to his tenure at New York’s Delmonico’s Restaurant and later at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the capacity of Maitre d’hotel.

Delmonico potatoes were featured in this blog about one year ago and that restaurant still exists in New York as does the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel which is where Oscar Tschirky became a house-hold name of sorts.

As a teenager Oscar migrated from Switzerland to the U.S.A. in 1883 and settled in New York where he started work as a trainee waiter at Hoffman House before moving on to Delmonico’s and finally settling at the Waldorf. In short, Oscar had the good fortune of being associated with successful restaurants.

Oscar is thought to have only created one dish – the Waldorf salad. You may be more familiar with this concoction of apples, celery and mayonnaise and its association with the episode of the British comedy series Fawlty Towers, named ‘Waldorf Salad’.

Oscar was able to avoid the contentious issue of the actual origin of popular dishes because he wasn’t a chef, he was ‘front of house’ and worked hard at promoting his association with the hotel via his cookbook .Ultimately ‘Oscar of the Waldorf’ was the inspiration of many of the Waldorf’s signature dishes including Thousand Island Dressing and Red Velvet cake. Veal Oscar on the other hand was not named after Mr Tschirky, but it didn’t stop this dish becoming a hotel favourite.

As far as Australia is concerned, Oscar’s most famous promotion just happens to be our most popular breakfast item – Eggs Benedict or occasionally known as ‘Eggs Benny”. This classic dish was originally four components – toasted English muffin, poached eggs, bacon and hollandaise sauce. Not being content with the original there are now more than 20 variations but our most popular (apart from the original) would be ham, smoked salmon or vegetarian. I have even seen a vegan alternative which somehow manages to get away with using the term ‘vegan eggs Benedict’. Is nothing sacred?

Sauce Hollandaise

In newsletter number 14 we offered a tutorial on how to poach eggs, but we have never explored the fifth of the ‘French Mother sauces’ – Hollandaise Sauce, which is an integral part of Eggs Benedict. Not that many years ago this sauce, when made in restaurants, may have lasted all day, but now Hollandaise Sauce made from scratch is regarded as a single service product. Around the time that producers had to start egg marking on eggs, health authorities clamped down on the service of hollandaise sauce. This in turn led to the unfortunate popularity of pre-made shelf stable sauces, but nothing beats fresh Hollandaise made with real eggs and fresh butter.

I was working at the Sydney Hilton when I started preparing large quantities of Sauce Hollandaise, by hand and while initially a daunting prospect, once you developed your technique it was pretty straight forward. The best way of achieving a good result at home for a few people is by using a stick blender. Here are a few tips to ensure success.

The minimum workable amount of egg yolks required is two (to be able to reach the blade of the blender) and this will give you enough sauce for two or three people. After that, you add one egg yolk for each additional person.

The egg yolks should be at room temperature as should the lemon juice and/or white wine vinegar.

Select a beaker or jar that your stick blender will just fit in.

To flavour the sauce and help with its emulsification you require fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar. I prefer a combination of white wine vinegar and lemon juice.

120g – 150g of butter, melted, should be used for two egg yolks. Add additional 60g butter for each additional egg yolk. The milky residue containing any salts will settle out after the butter has melted and you should avoid using this.

Use cayenne pepper and salt for seasoning. I like to supplement with a little ground white pepper –basically a 50/50 mix. For a small volume of sauce, you need to be careful with seasoning – use the pinch method instead of fractions of teaspoons.

You’ll need both hands to mix the hollandaise. Stand the beaker on top of a tea towel to avoid the beaker slipping.

The finished product should have a mat gloss but not a greasy finish.

The order of work for a 10 minute breakfast

Prepare hollandaise sauce – keep warm
Prepare poached eggs
Toast muffins
Heat ham
Start assembling
Use the frypan from the ham to sauté spinach
Finish the dish with the spinach

Poaching Eggs

Here is a reprint of How to poach eggs from Newsletter number 14 (last year). If you are just poaching two or four eggs you should be able serve your poached eggs directly from the poaching pan. Keep in mind if you don’t like the hint of vinegar on the eggs you will need to refresh the eggs in fresh hot water.

Poached Eggs

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Course: Breakfast

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

4 fresh eggs
50 ml white wine vinegar

Equipment

You’ll need a small un-lidded saucepan – say 2 litres or a small shallow pan, say 60mm deep, both preferably non stick or stainless steel; a plastic slotted spoon to avoid scratching the pan surface; one small ramekin; absorbent kitchen paper; a small bowl with chilled water. Remember to use the freshest eggs available.

Method

Assemble your equipment and ingredients
You’ll need four fresh eggs and 50ml of white wine vinegar
Bring to the boil in your pan or saucepan enough water to poach the four eggs. Add the vinegar.
Turn the heat down till the water is just below simmering.
Crack the eggs in the ramekin one at a time and gently lower the egg into the water. In a clockwise direction, do the same with the other eggs. Depending on the size of pan you could put the final egg in the centre. This should take about one minute. Adjust the heat up to compensate the drop in water temperature, but avoid boiling the water.
Using the spoon, starting with egg number one, gently make sure the eggs haven’t stuck to the surface of the pan.
If any of the eggs are not immersed, spoon the hot water over them or add a little hot water from the kettle.
When you think the eggs are to your liking, lift the first one and test with your finger tip.
In order, take the eggs out and place in the chilled water. This does two things – it stops the cooking process and negates the vinegar flavour.
Discard the poaching water (unless you require more eggs) and replace with fresh simmering water. When you need to serve them place the poached eggs (which by now should be around room temperature) into the fresh simmering water for 20 seconds before taking them out and placing them on the absorbent paper. Ready.

Notes

As long as you don’t overdo the vinegar, you may find the flavour acceptable without refreshing the eggs, particularly in the case of Eggs Benedict.

The pan I used can take up to six eggs.

Hollandaise Sauce

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Servings: 2 servings

Course: Breakfast

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

120 g butter
2 egg yolks room temperature
1 tsp white wine vinegar
3 tsp lemon juice
salt - scant
cayenne pepper -scant
ground white pepper –scant

Method

In a small saucepan slowly melt the butter
Meanwhile place the egg yolks, lemon juice and white wine vinegar in the beaker
Continue to heat the butter until the milky liquid on the bottom wants to boil
Take the butter off the heat, but do not cool
Using your stick blender carefully blend the egg mix
Keeping the blender running carefully add, by drizzling the hot butter into the eggs
If the sauce thickens too much add a few drops of hot water
Season as desired with salt, cayenne and white pepper