I’m really jonesing for eggs benedict but I have no vinegar left. Is this a critical lack or can I skip it?
It being NYE, all the shops are now shut (it’s past five here).
It helps in the poaching, but you certainly can poach without vinegar. It’s not there for the flavor.
Oh, or are you asking about the Hollandaise? I just use lemon juice in mine.
In other words, no, you don’t need vinegar at all. You can probably even add lemon juice to the poaching water to get the same effect as vinegar (which I think has to do with helping the proteins coagulate more tightly. I’ve done it without vinegar and it was fine. Hell, if you’re not a purist you can sub eggs over easy and still be in the same ballpark of decadent deliciousness.)
I was asking about both. I don’t have any lemons left either. Or other citrus fruit for that matter.
Hollandaise without lemon will still be edible, but the acidity of the lemon is helpful in giving it more flavor. Without the lemon, you’ve just got lots of rich and fatty ingredients that are not particularly strong flavors. Really, anything with an acidic profile will brighten the sauce up a little.
Do you have any dry white wine? That might be a decent substitute. Maybe even pickle juice…
A Hollandaise is very similar to a beurre blanc - the eggs being the only real difference - so you might search on those recipes to see if you find anything that might work well with the egg and ham.
Well then, yes, that would be problematic. You can still make something tasty, but it won’t be Eggs Benedict. I might go for a cheesy kind of sauce, like a Mornay, in that case.
It looks like if you search for “eggs Mornay” you’ll find a couple examples. Bonus is, Mornay sauce is easier to make than Hollandaise (well, there is blender Hollandaise, though, which is just as easy and I would recommend starting with to anyone who hadn’t made Hollandaise before and wants to be damned sure to get it right.)
I’m not a fan of hard-boiled eggs. I guess it’s going to be scrambled eggs for me.
Why do you need to hard boil anything? I think you can poach them without vinegar. The vinegar (I believe) just keeps the yolk from running everywhere in the water if the sac breaks.
Have capers? Use the liquid they are in.
No, not hard boiled. Cook it poached like Eggs Benedict but use Mornay instead of Hollandaise. It seems there are a couple dishes that go under the name eggs Mornay, but you don’t need to follow any specific recipe. Just go about your Eggs Brnedict business and substitute the sauce.
NAF?
Need Answer Fast.
I first thought it was Not Fucking Likely, then realised I’d misread and it’s probably Not A Fan.
Need Answer Fairly Soon (or something close to that you may have seen here before)
You might find the episode of Jacques Pepin together with Julia Child in which they cooked eggs. Jacques wanted to add vinegar to the poaching liquid whereas Julia was totally opposed. The end result was… it’s not a deal breaker to your poaching. Also, as mentioned above… capers, pickles, hot peppers, etc are all soaking in vinegar.
As it happens i have none of those. My cupboard is pretty bare after Christmas.
Sounds like maybe you should just list everything in your kitchen. 
Do you have cheese? Flour? Milk? Cream? Help us out here.
:smack: Somehow I completely misread the OP.