Eggs Hawthorne.

It's Sunday morning and I'm fixing Eggs Hawthorne, my version of Eggs Benedict. Toasted English Muffins. Sauteed ham slices. I use Kentucky Double Smoked Ham, available at Food Lion. A bed of spinach. And a 2.50 - 2.75 minute poached egg. Bring water with a splash of vinegar in it to a boil. Stir to create a vortex. Drop in the egg. Place drained poached egg in spinach nest. Caress with Hollandaise Sauce. That was my plan. It's always worked for me before. This time I screwed up the Hollandaise. This has happened to me once before. My sauce separated and curdled. I think I might not have paid attention and added too much butter at one time, then I had to stop and answer the phone, and I couldn't properly continue heating my emulsion, and whisking it, and I had to ignore it for a while, so it all separated. Mea culpa. Into fat pieces and liquid. Looked like crap.

This isn't my Hollandaise. I grabbed this pic off the internet. But this is what my Hollandaise kinda looked like. Only worse. More curdled and separated. Imagine that.

This is a nasty mess. But you don't need to throw it out and start over. You can fix this. What I did was put a tablespoon of white wine in a Corning ceramic bowl thingie and heated it over low, low heat. Then I whisked in the curdled sauce a tablespoon at a time.

And would you look at this? I ended up with this beautiful Hollandaise. I was amazed.

Who'd a thunk? It's freakin' beautiful Hollandaise.

My favorite part - penetration.

And release.