Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise sauce is a wonderful sauce to master. Like a mayonnaise, add the butter (instead of oil) little by little at first, to make an emulsion. A mother sauce, the daughter being béarnaise (with addition of chervil and tarragon). Making the reduction is a great opportunity to use any old white wine. A hollandaise is ideally served immediately after making.  

1. Make the reduction; - place the shallot, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, wine, vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil and reduce to approx 3 tbsp, set aside.
   
   
2. Place the yolks and whole egg in a round-bottomed bowl which will fit over a pan of simmering water. Whisk with a pinch of salt until foaming an thick. When at desired consistency (or sabayon) place over a pan of simmering water and whisk to heat until thickened.  Take care that the water around the bowl is not boiling. 
   
   
3. Remove the bowl from the heat and add a little of the strained reduction. Slowly start to trickle in the melted butter, whisking all the time. The hollandaise should be thick and foaming. 
   
   
4. When all the butter is added, season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and more reduction, you should be able to taste the sharpness.   Serve immediately, or keep at room temperature. Take care as the hollandaise can split easily if kept at too warm a temperature.
   
   
5. Serve immediately with fat chips and a perfectly cooked ribeye steak. 

For a béarnaise:

Swap the white wine vinegar for tarragon vinegar, the thyme for tarragon leaves and when seasoning at the end add 2 tbsp chopped tarragon and 1 tbsp chopped chervil. 

Copyright Marianne Lumb June 2010