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Ingredients
Method
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Start with the butter. Cut 125g of unsalted butter into small cubes and melt it slowly in a small saucepan over a low heat. Once melted, skim any white foam from the surface and set aside. You are not making clarified butter, just separating the froth. Keep it warm but not hot.
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Fill a medium saucepan with 1 litre of water and bring to a bare simmer, around 90 to 93 Celsius. You want movement at the bottom of the pan, not a rolling boil. Add 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Crack each egg into its own small cup or ramekin. This lets you lower each egg gently and retrieve any that go wrong before they hit the water.
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Place a small heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk together 2 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of cold water, and 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar in the bowl. Whisk constantly over the gentle heat for 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture will thicken and pale. When you can draw a clean line through it with your finger on the back of the spoon, it is ready. Remove the bowl from the heat immediately.
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Pour the warm melted butter into the yolk mixture in a very slow, thin stream, whisking constantly. If the butter goes in too fast, the sauce will split. After roughly half the butter is incorporated, you can increase the pour slightly. Add the wholegrain mustard, lemon juice, and whiskey. Whisk to combine. Season with salt and white pepper. Taste it: the whiskey should be a background note, not a feature. Keep the hollandaise warm by setting the bowl back over the hot water with the heat off, stirring occasionally.
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Grill the back bacon under a preheated grill at 200 Celsius for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Back bacon needs the direct heat to render the fat at the collar and set the lean section without drying it out. Transfer to a warm plate and cover loosely with foil.
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Toast the soda bread slices in a toaster or under the grill until they are just firm to the touch and hold a crust. Brown soda bread is dense enough that a light toast is all you need to stop the hollandaise soaking straight through. Do not over-toast or the bread will crumble when you cut through the egg.
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Bring the poaching water back to that same gentle simmer. Slide two eggs in, one at a time, close to the surface. Set a timer for 3 minutes for a yolk that is set around the outside but still liquid in the centre. If the whites are trailing into strings, use a spoon to gently fold them back. Lift each egg out with a slotted spoon and touch the underside to a folded piece of kitchen paper to remove excess water.
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To plate: lay the soda bread on warm plates. Arrange two slices of back bacon on each piece of bread, overlapping slightly. Lower a poached egg onto each. Spoon hollandaise generously over the egg so it runs down over the bacon. Scatter snipped chives across the top. Serve immediately.
Irish Context
Back bacon, sometimes called a rasher, is the standard breakfast cut in Ireland. It comes from the loin and includes both a lean section and a fat collar, unlike streaky bacon which is cut from the belly.
The difference in the finished dish is textural: back bacon gives you something to cut through, whereas streaky bacon crisps to a fragment under a poached egg. Brown soda bread has a slight tang from the buttermilk used in the dough, which works against the richness of the hollandaise in a way that white sourdough or an English muffin does not.
The wholegrain mustard is a common Irish kitchen staple and adds a mild heat without the sharpness of French Dijon.
Tips
If the hollandaise splits, take the bowl off the heat, add a teaspoon of cold water, and whisk in vigorously. It often comes back together.
If not, start with a fresh yolk in a clean bowl and gradually whisk the split sauce into it as if it were butter. The whiskey quantity matters.
More than 15ml and it will taste like a cocktail rather than a sauce. Use a standard Irish whiskey rather than a heavily peated or aged variant, where the barrel character would overpower the eggs.
Older eggs poach more cleanly than very fresh ones because the white is thinner and wraps around the yolk more readily. If your eggs are from the market that morning, add an extra half teaspoon of vinegar to the water.
Soda bread varies considerably between brands and home batches. If yours is quite crumbly, toast it for an additional minute.
The goal is a stable base, not a crispy one. Back bacon from an Irish butcher typically has a thicker collar of fat than supermarket rashers.
This renders better under the grill and adds to the final plate. Thin rashers will overcook before the fat has a chance to render.
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