A Hollandaise sauce is one of the
5 mother sauces, that’s why we think it is important for you guys to know how it’s made! The following recipe comes from the big master Escoffier. Auguste Escoffier was a very important French chef.
First you start with a very simple
gastrique. This basically means a reduction of vinegar or dry white wine with some peppercorns and other seasonings. To make it a little less sour, you can add a little bit of water but that's not a must. You can also add chopped shallots, bay leaves or parsley stems. You can easily make a larger amount and freeze the
gastrique if you like to make this kind of sauces more often. Freeze them individually in ice cube forms so it's easy to unfreeze just a little bit at a time.
Ingredients needed
- 1 dl dry white wine (for example: sauvignon blanc)
- 0,5 dl water
- squeeze of lemon juice
- about 10 peppercorns
- 3 egg yolks
- 200 gram dairy butter
Hollandaise sauce ingredients
Add the ingredients together in a small saucepan and let it simmer on low heat. Let it reduce to about 1/3. Sieve the
gastrique to get rid off the peppercorns (and any other seasonings).
When the gastrique is ready to use, you're going to make some clarified butter. Add 200 gram of butter to a small saucepan and let it melt very slowly. You'll notice some white substance is rising to the top. Skim the foam off using a spoon. The butter is now clarified and will look nice and clear.
Now you can start creating a
bain marie. Making a
bain marie means you add a small amount of water to a pan, bring it to a boil on medium high heat and place a bowl on top. The bowl shouldn't touch the water, this way the steam from the boiling water will gently cook the sauce inside the bowl. Add the
gastrique together with 3 egg yolks in the bowl and start whisking it. Keep on whisking until it becomes a fluffy consistency.
Hollandaise sauce
Slowly drizzle the clarified butter into the mixture and keep on whisking until a thick sauce appears. When the bowl, and therefor the sauce, is getting too hot, remove the bowl from the heat and keep on whisking. Whatever you do, don't stop whisking or else the yolks are going to create lumps.
Season with pepper and salt. Finish it off with some chopped fresh parsley.
Hollandaise sauce goes great with the classic Eggs Benedict, white asparagus, fish, and many more. You can also use this sauce as a basic sauce to create, for example,
bearnaise sauce - which is a tarragon sauce.
Hollandaise sauce ingredients
Add the ingredients together in a small saucepan and let it simmer on low heat. Let it reduce to about 1/3. Sieve the gastrique to get rid off the peppercorns (and any other seasonings).
When the gastrique is ready to use, you're going to make some clarified butter. Add 200 gram of butter to a small saucepan and let it melt very slowly. You'll notice some white substance is rising to the top. Skim the foam off using a spoon. The butter is now clarified and will look nice and clear.
Now you can start creating a bain marie. Making a bain marie means you add a small amount of water to a pan, bring it to a boil on medium high heat and place a bowl on top. The bowl shouldn't touch the water, this way the steam from the boiling water will gently cook the sauce inside the bowl. Add the gastrique together with 3 egg yolks in the bowl and start whisking it. Keep on whisking until it becomes a fluffy consistency.
Hollandaise sauce
Slowly drizzle the clarified butter into the mixture and keep on whisking until a thick sauce appears. When the bowl, and therefor the sauce, is getting too hot, remove the bowl from the heat and keep on whisking. Whatever you do, don't stop whisking or else the yolks are going to create lumps.
Season with pepper and salt. Finish it off with some chopped fresh parsley.
Hollandaise sauce goes great with the classic Eggs Benedict, white asparagus, fish, and many more. You can also use this sauce as a basic sauce to create, for example, bearnaise sauce - which is a tarragon sauce.