Basic hollandaise

By foodiva

Ingredients

• 500 ml white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp peppercorn
• bunch tarragon
• 3 large free-range egg yolks
• 200 ml melted and skimmed unsalted butter (see Secrets for success, below)
• squeeze lemon juice

Details

Servings 300
Cooking time 30mins
Adapted from bbcgoodfood.com

Preparation

Step 1

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Makes about 300ml (enough to serve 4-6)

This sauce, from Gordon Ramsay, takes some time to prepare, but think of it as a workout with a whisk

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If the sauce mixture starts to ‘split’ or curdle, immediately scrape the mixture into a clean bowl and whisk in 1 tbsp ice-cold water, then continue whisking in the remaining butter just a ladleful at a time.

Salt breaks down the yolks if you add it too early, so season your sauce at the end.

Heat a 250g pack chopped butter in a shallow pan. As it foams, scoop off the froth and scum using a small ladle or large metal spoon. Don’t use a slotted spoon or the scum will slip back into the butter. (Don’t waste the froth – it can be used in potatoes or for dressing hot vegetables). You should have around 200ml of warmed butter for the sauce. You can melt the butter in a microwave, but keep it covered as it melts or it will spit. Leave to cool a little before adding to the eggs.

Use 200ml of medium flavour olive oil (not
extra virgin oil) instead of the butter, and heat until warm. Perfect with roasted vegetables and grilled fish.

Boil the vinegar together with peppercorns and tarragon, reduce by half. Strain and reserve (see Secrets for success on storing, below).

Boil a large pan of water, then reduce to a simmer. Using a large balloon whisk, beat together the yolks and 2 tsp of the reduced wine vinegar in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over the pan.

Beat vigorously until the mixture forms a foam, but make sure that it doesn’t get too hot. To prevent the sauce from overheating, take it on and off the heat while you whisk, scraping around the sides with a plastic spatula. The aim is to achieve a golden, airy foam (called a sabayon), which forms ribbons when the whisk is lifted.

Whisk in a small ladle of the warmed butter, a little at a time, then return the bowl over a gentle heat to cook a little more. Remove from the heat again and whisk in another ladle of butter. Repeat until all the butter is incorporated and you have a texture as thick as mayonnaise. Finally, whisk in lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste plus a little warm water from the pan if the mixture is too thick.

This recipe tells you to boil 500ml of white wine vinegar and you only use 2 tsp. Just make 100ml and then reduce. I nearly wasted a lot of vinegar. Recipe was great though and the tip with the ice water for the mixture splitting really works well!

Tried this recipe and it is good. It makes a sauce with a smooth consistency - just runny enough - and delicious taste. But, I needed something a bit quicker this weekend. So, I used the suggestion from UncleVagrant (see below). I was lucky enough to have a bottle of tarragon infused white wine vinegar, bought cheaply from my local supermarket. Delia's recipe was a bit thick, so I would recommend using two or three times the quantity of vinegar and lemon juice that Delia does. Not as good as Gordon's but perfect with the piece of cod and broccoli that I poured it over.

Really great recipe! I've made this a few times now and have stopped manually whisking since it takes me too long. I cheat a little and use a hand held electric whisk on a low setting and it works just as well. Also, I use less than half of the 500ml vinegar to boil to a reduction. I prefer to make a fresh vinegar reduction rather than have it stored somewhere in the back of my kitchen cupboard till next use. One of my family's favourite sauces!

Melt the butter in a pan. Put eggs (unseparated) with the juice & pepper into a food processor/liquidiser & switch on. Pour the hot melted butter evenly into the whisking wggs until the sauce has thickened.

Keep pan over simmering water until ready to serve. Add herbs/flavourings as required. Boom.

Hollandaise can be tricky but I think I've found a way to make it a bit easier for us novices. I use a glass jug in a pot of boiled water, not on the heat. Using an electric hand whisk the whole process is much quicker. After making the initial foam with the egg yolks and vinegar I drip the melted butter in slowly and constantly (from another jug) whilst constantly electronically whisking. As the heat is not on there is no need to take the jug out of the pot so it removes the extra fuss that can result in it splitting. I've had about a 8/10 success rate with this method, compared to my previous scrambled egg covered walls. If you are making eggs benedict it helps to poach the eggs in advance and keep them warm on a plate in the oven at a low heat while you make the hollandaise, or vice versa. Good luck, it's such a yummy sauce to make and it makes your friends feel special!

First time making hollandaise and was a little nervous but it was really easy and turned out perfect! I didn't bother reducing the vinegar so it was quick and simple to make. Would definitely recommend for beginners, gorgeous on a bit of poached salmon!

After trying (& failing miserably) with a food processor technique, I decided an old fashioned, whisk approach would give me more control. The result, after averting scrambled eggs with a little iced water, is a deliciously silky smooth sauce!

This was an excellent tasting sauce, however I didn't get to enjoy it atop my english muffin. I had made the sauce which turned out perfectly, set aside while I made the rest of the dish, but the time the dish was ready for sauce, it was cold. I set the bowl of sauce over a pan of water once again just to warm and it turned runny and split. Stirring in iced water did not help at this point. This was the first time making hollandaise for me, so I undoubtably made a rookie mistake. How are you suppose to warm the sauce for re-use?

You can make Hollandaise in the food blender which is quicker

Personally, I think Mr. Ramsay is the best chef because of the precision he has taught himself and others while attaining the ability to show the art of mastering cuisines. Although not a fan of his imprecational ways, I do believe that he 'fires' on-screen and if you are adament about learning the proper way of fine cooking, he would be my number one choice. I use this recipe all the time and it is the easiest way to make a stunning breakfast affaire! :)

Poached eggs sometimes seem to work perfectly for me. Other tomes they are a disaster, though they always taste just as good. Can I suggest Lakeland's pochette's for when the need to look good. I know it's cheating, but the are foolproof! And you can do more than one at a time.

I found a Delia version a few years ago and TOTALLY swear by it. There's no excessive reductions and the only complex element is the requirement of owning a tiny wee blender. You won't split the mixture because you only heat the egg yolk through the warmed vinegar/lemon juice and then again with the frothy butter.

To make hollandaise sauce - one you don't need tarragon - two you can add two teaspoons of cold water instead of vinegar and three - you don't need melted butter - the sauce is less likely to split if you incorporate small lumps of butter into the sauce and whisk each time - result - lovely sauce with less of the hastle - works every time.

How to make hollandaise and bearnaise sauce

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