Quarantine Sauce Series: Hollandaise, a Mother Sauce

Hollandaise is one of five "mother sauces," on which French cuisine is based. Suffice it to say the French love butter!

I decided to blog the five mother sauces during this crazy pandemic, partly to help keep me being creative (though I am super busy with work) and partly because these truly are the base sauces that can become so much else. They  include Béchamel, Veloute, Espagnole, Hollandaise (and it's cold counterpart Mayonnaise) and Crème Anglaise.  Beurre Blanc is a "cousin" to these sauces.

Hollandaise is best known for being the deliciously rich sauce on Eggs Benedict. It is also outstanding on asparagus.

I stored the egg whites
in a container in the fridge
and the next morning we had

scrambled egg whites.

It's a pretty simple sauce that tends to be a little difficult to reheat...it must be kept warm. Not super hot or it will break. Not cold or the butter will seize up but it's pretty easy to recover - mostly helped with a whisk and temp change.

Ingredients:

12 TBS unsalted butter, softened
6 egg yolks

1/2 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Salt and pepper to taste.

Before you begin, be sure to have a way to keep this sauce warm. A thermos is a great trick - I used an insulated Tervis Tumbler with a lid.

Don't stop whisking!

Boil a kettle of water and measure out the 1/2 cup.

Set a large bowl over a pot with about 1/2 inch of water. You want to use a bowl or something with rounded edges.

Bring water to a boil and turn down to a simmer.

Whisk the butter and egg yolks together - I start the butter melting and then whisk in the yolks. Once it's incorporated, SLOWLY add the boiling water while whisking the entire time. During both of these steps keep whisking and be sure not to scramble your eggs. Once you see cooked egg chunks there's no recovery. Do not walk away. Whisk over the heat for about seven minutes - you'll see the sauce start to thicken at about 5 or 6 minutes. The sauce is ready when it has thickened and reads 160-165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

Off heat - whisk in the lemon juice and cayenne. Taste and season with salt and pepper. You're looking for a rich, creamy sauce with some tang from the lemon and heat from the cayenne.

Pour into your thermos or insulated cup, cover and set aside.

I made enough to use for brunch for two (Eggs Benedict) and for dinner the next day (pour over asparagus).

Of course my insulated 

cup is a Red Sox cup!

Put your English muffin(s) in the toaster oven (one half for each serving) and put a slice of Canadian bacon on each piece. Broil until the bacon starts to cook. Pull and have ready for the eggs.

Poach your eggs (note: my husband thinks he'd like to try it with a fried egg, over easy and we may just try that next time). I poach in a large skillet. Crack eggs into cups so that you can pour them into the water at the same time. Bring nearly full skillet of water to a boil (with 2 TBS white distilled vinegar and a teaspoon of salt), gently pour the eggs in - they may look all separated and what not but don't worry that's normal. Pull the skillet OFF of the heat and cover. Set the timer for 4 minutes.

When ready use a slotted spoon to remove the eggs and gently place on paper towel.

So much egg yolky goodness.

Gently place the eggs on the bacon and pour the hollandaise over each serving and enjoy!

Store the remaining hollandaise in the fridge, in covered insulated cup.

To reheat: stir while heating in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat until it reaches 160-165 degrees.

Eggs Benedict.

Hollandaise on asparagus with
mushrooms and sous vide steak.

We think Fenway liked it. 

(Note:she is actually gently

trying to get the beef but it 

looks so vicious I had

to post this!)