Hollandaise Sauce
One of the classic French cuisine's five Mother Sauces, this rich, creamy, lemony sauce has no equal.
Nothing but a real Hollandaise Sauce is allowed in my kitchen. My recipe is entirely patterned after a Julia Child recipe from her 1968 book, The French Chef Cookbook. But Julia's recipe is made in a blender, it's hard to follow and I've learned many secrets to making a great Hollandaise Sauce, so allow me to share them in a recipe that is made the old fashioned way, with a metal mixing bowl and a wire whisk. The ingredients are simple: egg yolks, butter and lemon juice, with a smidgen of cayenne. But it is the technique that makes the sauce. Follow my instructions and you’ll get the hang of it. The main thing to remember is don’t improvise on this recipe or its technique, and stay with it once you’ve started. Don’t become distracted with other attentions; be sure to do this when everything else in your kitchen is at a standstill.
Hollandaise Sauce
Yield: 1-1/4 cups
One of the classic French cuisine's five Mother Sauces, this rich, creamy, lemony sauce has no equal.
Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 oz butter, room temperature
- 2 sticks butter, room temperature
- juice of 1 medium fresh lemon
- 2-3 dashes cayenne pepper
Instructions
- About 2 hours before you start making the Hollandaise, take the three eggs out of the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.
- Similarly, take all of the butter out of the refrigerator and allow it also to come to room temperature.
- To properly make this sauce, you will need a metal mixing bowl (which will likely be made of stainless steel) that fits neatly over a saucepan. Do not substitute a traditional double-boiler. I've tried this and it does not work because the curvature of a double-boiler (or lack thereof) simply will not allow you to properly whisk the ingredients.
- About thirty minutes before making the Hollandaise Sauce, separate the yolks and discard the albumen. Put them in the mixing bowl, but not over the heat just yet. Vigorously whisk the yolks together for 2 minutes. Add the ounce of butter and whisk it into the yolks for another minute. Allow the yolks and butter to rest for 15 minutes or longer before proceeding.
- In the meantime, cut the two sticks of butter into 5-6 pieces each and place in a microwave-safe measuring cup (you will need the spout). Microwave the butter until melted, about 45 seconds.
- Fill the saucepan about 1/3 full of water and bring to a light simmer. Place the metal bowl on top of the saucepan and begin whisking.
- In the beginning, add just a couple of tablespoons of melted butter to the yolks at a time.
- Whisk for a minute over the saucepan of simmering water. Then, whisk for a minute with the mixing bowl off the saucepan.
- Add the next couple of tablespoons of butter and return the mixing bowl to the saucepan. Repeat the process of whisking on, then off the saucepan of simmering water.
- Add the lemon juice after you've added melted butter to the egg yolks twice. The sauce will loosen a bit after you add the lemon juice, but have faith. It will continue to thicken as it continues to cook.
- Keep repeating these steps: add butter; whisk on the heat; whisk off the heat; repeat. Whisk the mixture continuously; don't stop for more than a couple of seconds while you add more melted butter to the yolks. Once you've added 1/2 of the melted butter, you'll then be able to increase the amount of butter that you can add at a time.
- Don't stop whisking and keep the above process in motion, going on and off the heat at regular intervals.
- Eventually, you will have all the butter incorporated. If the sauce is still too loose, increase the amount of time you leave the mixing bowl over the heat. In the end, the sauce should be of the creamy consistency indicative of a Hollandaise sauce: not as tight as mayonnaise, but thicker than a cream gravy.
- Once this stage has been reached, whisk in the cayenne pepper, and then stop whisking. Remove the mixing bowl from the heat entirely and allow it to rest until ready to serve at room temperature.
Notes
- Once you start whisking, don't stop until the process is complete. You cannot leave this alone for another chore.
- Many recipes for Hollandaise call for clarified butter, which is the complicated process of removing the milk solids from the oil. The only thing clarified butter will do for you is allow the butter and the yolks to incorporate a little more quickly. Non-clarified butter provides no ultimate benefit in terms of taste or texture, but you will have to whisk a little longer to finish the sauce. You will notice after you melt the butter that the milk solids sink to the bottom, while the oil, which is in fact clarified butter, floats to the surface.
- You will also notice that once you get into the milk solids at the bottom third of your measuring cup, the sauce will loosen up a bit. Have faith. Keep whisking and keep the whisking process going. Eventually the sauce will thicken.
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