Cooking 101: Classic Hollandaise

April 16, 2009

This post is part of a series called Cooking 101, which introduces the basics of cooking. The series follows the book Culinary Fundamentals, with supplements from The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. Check out the previous posts here.

Unit 15: Sauces

Part 2: Hollandaise Sauce

Note that there is no part 1 for sauces yet.  I’m saving that for a summary of sauces.

Hollandaise sauce is a beautiful thing.  It is smooth, fresh, and rich.  Drizzle it over the top of anything and the dish will taste good.  Making hollandaise (an emulsion sauce) can be intimidating due to the risk of it breaking (when the fat and water separate), but in this post I’ll detail the steps to make fresh hollandaise that will impress even the most critical guests.

How good is it?  My girlfriend put a small drizzle on top of an egg, then remarked, “…I’ll just put it everywhere,” as she continued to pour it across the rest of the plate

What You Need

For this recipe of hollandaise, you’ll need two egg yolks, 8 – 12 tablespoons of melted or clarified butter,  a couple tablespoons (approximate) of white wine or cider vinegar, the same amount of water as vinegar, cracked peppercorns, fresh lemon juice to taste, salt, and cayenne is optional.

The Process

Begin by simmering the vinegar with the  cracked peppercorns (just eyeball the amount of peppercorns) over medium heat until it reduces to a thick consistency.

Add the water (same amount as the original vinegar) to the saucepan then strain the result into the bowl in which you’ll make the hollandaise.

Now, fill a saucepan about a third full with water and bring it to the barest of simmers.  There should be no bubbles -just a lot of steam.  Add your egg yolks to the bowl with the strained vinegar/water then place it over the simmering water (hopefully the bowl sits above the water in the pot).  Whisk the mixture slowly.

The goal is for the yolks to increase in volume and thicken so ribbons when you raise the whisk from the sauce.  The sauce needs to reach 145° F to kill Salmonella, but you can’t heat it too much or the eggs with scramble and solidify.  I think I whisked my eggs too briskly, leaving a frothy foam on top.  I’m still unsure if I cooked the eggs enough, but after 6-8 minutes of whisking I gave up and moved on.

Remove the bowl from the saucepan to a sturdy surface where it won’t slip (on top of a towel works well).  Slowly drizzle in the melted butter while whisking quickly, emulsifying the butter into the sauce. (Note that I whisked the butter in still over the simmering water.  Oops.)

My sauce became too thick,  but warm water worked well in softening the consistency.  Lemon juice also works.

If the sauce starts to break, the book recommends whisking in some water before adding more butter, and if that doesn’t work, then cook another egg yolk as directed before and whisk the broken sauce into the new egg yolk.

When your butter has been whisked into the sauce, all that is left is adding lemon juice and salt to taste (and cayenne if you desire).

Evaluating Your Sauce

Your sauce should be smooth and pour easily.  It should not look oily.  Butter should be the predominant taste, with the other flavorings used to balance it out.  I like mine heavy on the lemon juice.  A grainy texture suggests the eggs were overcooked.

My sauce turned out pretty well.  I’m not sure if I cooked the eggs enough, but my sauce had a smooth texture once loosened with water.  The flavor was rich, and the lemon juice made it taste fresh and bright.  Overall I’m pleased with my sauce.

What was the point of all that?

A second, easier method is available for making hollandaise – a blender.  It mostly involves combining the ingredients in a blender, turning it on, then drizzling in the butter.  It is much easier and still makes a good sauce; apparently they use a blender for it at Eric Ripert’s Le Bernardin.  So if it’s good enough for him, it is probably good enough for me too.

I do think, however, that making the sauce the old fashioned way gives a better sense of cooking fundamentals and why the sauce comes out the way it does.  You start with a vinegar reduction which adds complexity to the flavor and provides some water for the emulsification.  Cooking the egg yolks slightly makes the sauce safer and adds to the volume, as they expand when they heat.  Whisking in the butter emulsifies the fat molecules in water, creating a smooth, creamy sauce.  Finally, the addition of lemon juice brightens the flavor of the final product.

That is a long post for just one sauce.

I realize this, but it is easy to remember when you break it down.  I would start with the number of egg yolks you plan on using and go from there.  For each egg yolk, I’d use roughly a tablespoon of vinegar (and then the same amount of water).  Each egg yolk also requires 2-3 oz of butter.  Two ounces is half a stick, so start with half a stick of butter for each yolk, then add more to taste.  The pepper, lemon juice, and salt are all to taste.  (Note: I haven’t tried this with large quantities – I don’t know if ratios change)

1 egg yolk = 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 tablespoon water = half a stick of butter + more to taste

The final recipe isn’t particularly hard to remember either: reduce the vinegar with the peppercorns, add the water, strain into a bowl, add the egg yolks, whisk over simmering water, drizzle and whisk in the melted butter, add lemon juice and salt to taste.  That’s it!  Hopefully you can make your own hollandaise now (and maybe without a recipe).

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