McDonald’s

There it was, no number, no fanfare, no supersize option, just a photo and a price on the wall: the Eggs Benedict McMuffin^® Meal, $3.09 with coffee and hash browns.

The original Egg McMuffin was developed in 1971 by franchisee Herb Peterson as a modified version of eggs Benedict, with a slice of American cheese instead of Hollandaise. Now, 30 years later, McDonald’s has released the real thing.

Well, not quite. Technically, the Eggs Benedict McMuffin is just a normal Egg McMuffin with an inverted stack order (Canadian style bacon under the egg slab, not on top). The only addition is the “special breakfast sauce,” which looks like a thin and slightly greenish mayonnaise, has little discernable taste (lemon?), and whose ingredients remain a mystery.

The muffin was chewy and undertoasted, and the round egg slabs developed by Peterson (photo at left) are overcooked by company policy, with no hint of a liquid yolk. The Canadian style bacon is actually fairly good, but there’s not enough of it — two slices would be an improvement.

Rounding out the McMeal was the extruded oval hash brown: oily but tasty. I splurged and ordered orange juice instead of coffee.