Meet the rock star of your next “Fall Brunch” – The Pumpkin BBQ Pulled Pork Eggs Benedict. It’s a mouthful, I know, but a decadently and delicious mouthful! Plus, you’re guests will LOVE it!
Now, there are quite a few components to this dish, but if you plan accordingly, preparation will be a breeze. You can make the BBQ Sauce and pork beforehand, and if you’re feeling adventurous, you can even poach the eggs the night before!
BBQ Sauce
Easy. Sweat the onions & garlic, add the remaining ingredients, heat, then blend. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge until ready to use.
Pork
Also easy. Season with salt and pepper, then sear all sides in a cast iron skillet. Add to a Crock Pot with all the other ingredients. Let cook for 4 hours on high, then, when cool enough to handle, shred that stuff! Add a cup of the BBQ sauce, and mix well. Place in an oven safe dish, and either throw it in the oven to keep warm (and get crispy edges), or cover, and throw it in the fridge until you’re ready for that puppy.
Poached Eggs
Now, for those poached eggs. They really are an art, so if you don’t get it right away, don’t fret dear friend! It took me awhile because I would hear this business about swirling the water around, and dropping it in the vortex. That did not work for me. I find that a deeper pot of water works best. You want to heat it up so far that it’s just below boiling. You see some small bubbles releasing from the bottom of the pot, but it’s not a rolling boil. I always add a splash of distilled white vinegar – they say it helps the whites stay together. Drop them in the water, one by one, careful to not crowd the pot. The eggs will drop to the bottom, so with a slotted spoon, gently caress them and ensure that they’re not sticking to the bottom. Whatever you do, DON’T BREAK THE YOLK!!! These are little gems of egg-porn waiting to happen, and you don’t want to be the one responsible for ruining it. When the whites are set – after about 4 minutes, you can use them straight away.
Poached Eggs Ahead-Of-Time!
If you want to do the refrigeration bit – get a plate and make two sets of paper towels, that are stacked three high. Get them wet, let them drip dry a bit – don’t wring them out. Lay one of the sets on the bottom of the plate, and place the poached eggs on it as they are done. When all of your eggs are poached, cover with the other wet set of paper towel, and put in the fridge until the next morning when you’re ready to use them. Don’t keep them in the fridge longer than a day. This is just to make your life easy the morning of your Fantasmagoria Fall Brunch!
When you’re ready for your poached eggs the next morning, heat a pot of water up to almost boiling again, and let the eggs warm in the water for about one minute. Voila, you’ve got perfect poached eggs in a fraction of the time!
The rest of this is smooth sailing. Toast your English muffins, top with the BBQ pork, add some chopped sage, bitter greens, poached egg, and hollandaise! Effing Awesome.
I made this dish because I had the wonderful opportunity of being interviewed by the Press Enterprise – our local Inland Empire newspaper! I was so stoked, and wanted to do something really special, relevant, festive, and true to my style. So, I came up with this fall breakfast, complete with pumpkin and pumpkin BEER, bitter greens, and eggs that has balanced flavors, and is TO DIE FOR! I hope you enjoy it as much as their kick-ass photographer, Kurt Miller, did!
Happy Autumn!
Listening to:
Cinnamon Girl
Type O Negative – October Rust
- For the Pork
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 3 Pounds Pork Shoulder, boneless
- 1 Tablespoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
- 1 Cup Pumpkin Beer
- 2 Cups Veggie/Chicken Stock
- 1 Large Onion, sliced (about 2 cups)
- 3 Garlic Cloves, smashed
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/8 Teaspoon Cloves
- For the Pumpkin BBQ Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup Diced Onion
- 3 Garlic Cloves, diced
- 1 15 ounce can Pumpkin Puree (or 1 1/2 Cups)
- 1/2 Cup Pumpkin Beer
- 1/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/4 Cup Molasses
- 2 Tablespoons Real Maple Syrup
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
- 1/8 Teaspoon Liquid Smoke
- 2 Teaspoons Ground Mustard
- For the Hollandaise
- 3 Yolks of Large Eggs, room temperature
- 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2 inch chunks and softened
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- Pinch of salt to taste
- Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
- For the Benedicts
- Distilled White Vinegar for poaching the eggs
- 8 Eggs
- 4 English Muffins, split
- 8 Fresh Sage Leaves, thinly sliced
- 1 Head Frissee lettuce (or other bitter green)
- 1 Green Onion, thinly sliced for garnish
- Prepare your Crock Pot for magic, and heat a skillet over high heat. While your pan heats up, season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper. Put the olive oil in the pan, and sear all four sides of the shoulder to a nice golden brown.
- Place the seared pork shoulder in the Crock Pot with the beer, stock, onion, cloves and cinnamon, and set to high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.
- Once the 4 hours is up, remove from the Crock Pot to a large platter, and let cool until able to handle. Shred the pork, removing any fatty pieces, and place in an air-tight container, refrigerating until ready to use. Can be refrigerated up to three days.
- Heat a pot over medium heat, and add the olive oil and onions, cooking until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, and cook a minute more.
- Add the remaining ingredients, and heat through, about 5-7 minutes. Pour the hot contents in a blender*, and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. *COVER THE BLENDER WITH A TOWEL SO YOU DON’T BURN YOURSELF.
- Place in an airtight container, and refrigerate until ready to use. Can be refrigerated up to three days.
- Place tap water in a small-medium saucepan that is small enough to hold a small mixing bowl. Only fill with enough water, so that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Start with all room-temperature utensils and water.
- Turn the burner to medium-high, and immediately add the egg yolks. As the water comes up to almost boiling, whisk the egg yolks continuously, while adding small cubes of softened butter. Only add a few small cubes at a time, allowing them to melt after each addition. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens. The instant you see it starting to thicken, remove the bowl from the saucepan, while continuing to whisk.
- Add the lemon zest, juice, salt, and cayenne pepper, and combine. Continue whisking occasionally until ready to use.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
- Combine one cup of the Pumpkin BBQ Sauce with the shredded pork. Place in a baking dish, cover, and place in the oven and heat for 10 minutes. If doing this step with cold pork, increase cooking time to a total of 20 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of water up to almost boiling. If the water starts to boil, turn the heat down. You don’t want violent boiling bubbles disturbing the egg whites as you drop them into the water. Add 1-2 Tablespoons of distilled white vinegar.
- Crack each egg individually into a small bowl, and then carefully drop into the water, one by one. Do this step in batches for pots that aren’t so large.
- Using a slotted spoon, ensure that the eggs don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until the whites are just set and the yolk has a give when gently pressed.
- Remove them to a warm, wet paper-towel lined plate until ready to serve.
- Toast the 4 split English Muffins (8 total sides) until golden brown. Divide among four plates. Top with 1/4 cup of the pork mixture, sprinkle that with the sliced fresh sage leaves, then place about 1/4 cup’s worth of frisee leaves on top of that.
- Top with a poached egg, hollandaise, and sliced green onion, and enjoy!
O.m.g. Natalie, This looks so amazing! ~ I must make it this weekend! I even have Thomas’ Pumpkin spice english Muffins in the freezer… Beautiful photography too! Gonna share this for sure 🙂
I love that you can make the eggs ahead of time. Everything looks so delicious as always.