Hollandaise is getting a bad rap with some home cooks. Tales of broken sauces and ruined brunch menus have kept some of us at home from attempting what is really a simple technique. Some printed recipes complicate things with unnecessary steps like clarified butter. Clarifying butter will yeild a cleaner finished product, but it’s a pain in the ass. And it actually can make the emulsion less stable.
Give hollandaise a shot using cold whole butter. By adding butter cold you’ll help prevent over-heating and the resultant scrambled eggs. The small amount of water that’s present in whole butter also helps protect the emulsion. After the jump, I’ve compiled additional tips that will help ensure a smooth rich sauce. If you’ve never made hollandaise grab your whisk and give this a shot.
Artichokes with Simple Hollandaise
Tips
- Low heat is essential. Use a double boiler. Once you’ve got the hang of things you can work (carefully) right in a sauce pan.
- Use whole butter. Using cold whole butter will help keep the temperature low and prevent the emulsion from breaking down.
- Have extra water handy. Water is also essential to the emulsion. If the sauce becomes too thick add a drizzle of water. Go slowly becuase you can’t take the water back out.
- Never turn your back. I broke two sauces in a row while fiddling with my camera for this post. Hollandaise is needy. Pay attention to it.
- If it breaks fear not. There are two ways you can save the day, but first you have to set down your camera.
- Create an ice bath and use it to cool the bottom of your bowl while furiously whisking in a tablespoon of the ice water.
- Start a second egg yolk mixture in a new bowl, and slowly whisk in the broken sauce.
- Keeping things warm. If you can’t serve immediately hollandaise can be stored in a thermos for about an hour. That’s how many restaurants deal with 97 Eggs Benedict orders every brunch service. It will also keep reasonably in any bowl if the surface of the sauce is covered in plastic wrap.
Simple Hollandaise
Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 stick butter, cut into chunks
water (as needed)
salt and pepper to taste
Instruction:
Combine the egg yolks and lemon juice in a large bowl or double boiler. Whisk over low heat until pale and thick. The mixture should double in volume.
Whisk in butter one chunk at a time, additional chunks only after each one is completely incorporated. If sauce is too thick, or about to break drizzle a teaspoon of water at a time and whisk vigorously until desired consistency
Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately
Ingredients for Hollandaise
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
i have never made one but thanks to Ruhlman, McGee, etc, I am interested in all things sauces and emulsions these days. Is there a reason you don’t start by mixing the butter and yolk mix first to incorporate the fat into the yolk first, and then add the liquid?
When recipe searching I found it done both ways sometimes on the same sites. It’s really cooks preference. I like starting with the lemon (or vinegar reduction) first, and then adding the butter and water as needed. That way the sauce ends with the thickness you wanted.
If you added the butter first keeping the viscosity where you want it, but then had to add the lemon juice, you’d thin the sauce further. I actually did that yesterday adding a poblano pepper and vinegar reduction to a finished sauce. You’ll see the picture if you stop back on Friday. It’s a little too thin.