Eggs Hussarde
“Eggs Hussarde” (“Oeufs Hussarde”) was popularized at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana, from about 1950, but the dish dates to at least the 1890s. Poached eggs are served with Canadian bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, Holland rusks (or English muffins), marchand de vin and hollandaise sauce.
A recipe for “Poached eggs a la Hussarde” was printed in The Sunday Herald (Boston, MA) on April 7, 1895, and credited to chef Adolphe Gallier of the Hotel Brunswick in New York City. A recipe was also published in Le Guide Culinaire (1903) by Auguste Escoffier.
Craig Claiborne wrote in the New York (NY) Times on June 26, 1985:
“The word hussarde in English is hussar, a 15th century horseman of the Hungarian light cavalry. The name is said to mean eggs in a cavalier fashion.”
Wikipedia: Eggs Hussarde
Eggs Hussarde substitutes Holland rusks for the English muffin and adds Bordelaise sauce.
7 April 1895, The Sunday Herald (Boston, MA), “What We Owe to the Hens: Dishes of Great Variety Prepared from Eggs,” pg. 31, col. 1:
NEW YORK, April 5, 1895.
(...)
The recipes given below by some the leading chefs of New York are nearly all original. They have been duly tested and can be recommended to the public.
(...) (Col. 2—ed.)
Poached eggs a la Hussarde—Make a hash of mushrooms and a can of cooked bacon. Mix well with a few spoonfuls of melted meat jelly and place where it will keep hot. Take four round tomatoes, cut each in half and dig out the pulp. Sprinkle a little salt over them and place on a silver dish which has been oiled. Put them in the oven for five minutes, simply to warm them. Then fill them with the hash already prepared, and lay on the top of each a poached egg and brown over a la salamande.
A. (Adolphe—ed.) GALLIER,
Chef Hotel Brunswick.
26 March 1899, Washington (DC) Post, “Dainties from Easter Eggs,” pg. 28, col. 4:
POACHED EGGS A LA HUSSARDE.
Hash some cooked bacon with mushrooms. Mix with a little melted meat jelly. Cut four tomatoes in half and remove the interior. Warm them in the oven, Then insert the hash and place a poached egg on each tomato. Brown, and serve on hot plates.
(This article is also on Chronicling America.—ed.)
Google Books
Le Guide Culinaire, aide-mémoire de cuisine pratique
Par A. Escoffier
Paris, France
1903
Pg. 220:
Hussarde. —— Demi-tomates pressées, assaisonnées et grillées ou pochées au four, garnies d’oignons hachés grossièrement, sautés au beurre, et liés a la demi-glace avec addition de jambon en dés. Dans chaque demi-tomate, un œuf happé de velouté relevé au cayenne.
7 November 1921, Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune, pg. 4, col. 7 ad:
The Stevens Building Restaurant
(...)
Eggs, Hussarde (Ham, Cream and Tomato Sauce and Mushrooms)
15 March 1950, The Sun (Baltimore, MD), “To A Man’s Heart: For A 3 -Hour Breakfast” by Clementine Paddleford, pg. 16, col. 6:
The three-hour breakfast is a Sunday feature at the Vieux Carre, a French restaurant, run by the Brennan family from the New Orleans Irish Channel.
(...)
Egg Hussarde follows the fruit. This is a recipe Ella copied from the Delmonico Cook Book. The eggs are poaches and rested on a broiled tomato slice posed on toast, served with a red wine sauce made with chopped ham, with scallions and fresh mushrooms, then hollandaise over all.
Google Books
So Near and Yet So Far
By Emily Kimbrough
New York, NY: Harper
1955
Pg. 59:
EGGS HUSSARDE 1.75 Marchand de Vin Sauce over grilled ham and tomato on toast. Poached eggs and Hllandaise sauce.
October 1960, Woman’s Day (New York, NY), “The Happy Gastronomy of New Orleans” by Naomi Barry, pg. 106, col. 2:
Ella urged us to try either Eggs Sardou or Eggs Hussarde, both of them related to Eggs Benedict. The poached eggs of the Sardou are distinguished by creamed spinach and hearts of artichoke, capped with a rich yellow hollandaise sauce. The Hussarde is a pyramid of grilled ham and tomato slices, Marchand de Vinsauce, poached ,egg, and hollandaise, based on a round of Holland rusk.
7 March 1979, The Times Herald (Port Huron, MI), “It’s not exactly Brennan’s, but brunch comes close” by Pat Tweedie, pg. 1C, col. 3:
EGGS HUSSARDE (From Brennan’s New Orleans Cookbook.—ed.)
2 large thin slices ham or Canadian bacon, grilled
2 Holland rusks, English muffins or buttered toast
1/4 cup Marchande de Vin sauce
2 slices tomato, grilled
2 eggs, soft poached
3/4 cup Hollandaise sauce
Lay a large slice of ham across each rusk and cover with Marchande de Vin sauce. Cover next with tomato and then egg. Top with Hollandaise sauce. Garnish with sprinkling of paprika or chopped parsley. One serving.
26 June 1985, New York (NY) Times, “Q&A” by Craig Claiborne, pg. C&, col. 1:
My favorite breakfast dish in New Orleans is eggs Hussarde. How does one prepare this?
A. Eggs Hussarde or a la Hussarde consists of a layer of toast on which is placed a slice of grilled ham. This is covered with a red-wine sauce (marchand de vin), a slice of grilled tomato and two poached eggs. It is covered with a hollandaise sauce and served.
The word hussarde in English is hussar, a 15th century horseman of the Hungarian light cavalry. The name is said to mean eggs in a cavalier fashion.
Google Books
The Food of New Orleans:
Authentic Recipes from the Big Easy
By John DeMers
Preiplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
1998
Pg. ?:
EGGS HUSSARDE
The origin of this dish is mysterious. It may simply have been named for a friend of the Brennan family—no one seems to remember—or it may hark back to the French word hussard for soldier.
Eater
Watch: The New Orleans Breakfast Dish That Makes a Hangover Worth It
Eggs Hussarde is eggs Benedict — with one major upgrade
by Eater Video and Nick Solares Jan 16, 2017, 12:15pm EST
(...)
Eggs Hussarde is a Brennan’s invention, a rich and meaty riff on eggs Benedict that makes it hard to return to the original. The traditional components all show up — English muffin, hollandaise sauce, poached egg — but are bolstered by the presence of house-cured Canadian bacon, mushrooms, and a glossy marchand de vin, or veal stock and red wine sauce