Recipe information
Yield
for about 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Beat the egg yolks with a wire whisk in a stainless-steel saucepan for a minute or two, until they thicken lightly and turn lemon-colored. Whisk in the pinch of salt, lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon cold butter. Set over moderately low heat and whisk continuously at moderate speed, removing pan from the heat now and then to make sure the yolks aren’t cooking too fast. When they cling to the wires of the whisk and you can see the bottom of the pan between strokes, remove from heat and stir in the second tablespoon of cold butter. Start beating in the melted butter by little driblets at first, until a good 1/2 cup of the sauce has thickened, then add it a little more quickly as the sauce thickens into a heavy cream. Taste and correct seasoning.
VARIATION
Step 2
BÉARNAISE SAUCE. For about 1 cup. Bring 1/4 cup each of wine vinegar and dry white wine or dry white French vermouth to the boil in a small saucepan, adding 1 tablespoon minced shallots, 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and freshly ground pepper. Boil rapidly until the liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons; strain, if you wish, pressing liquid from seasonings. Substitute this essence for the lemon juice in the preceding master recipe but add only 1 1/2 sticks of butter in all, to make an authoritative sauce. You may wish to stir chopped fresh tarragon leaves into the finished sauce.
Troubleshooting Hollandaise Sauce
Step 3
If you have added the butter too fast for the egg yolks to digest it, or if you’ve kept the sauce over heat too long, it can thin out or separate. To bring it back to its creamy state, whisk it briefly to blend, and dip a tablespoonful into a bowl. Whisk in a tablespoon of lemon juice and whisk vigorously until creamy. Then whisk in very little dribbles of the turned sauce at first, not adding more until the previous addition has creamed and the sauce begins to reconstitute.
Machine-Made Hollandaise
Step 4
The handmade sauce is easy and relatively quick when you are used to it, but you may prefer the electric blender. Use the same system, but it’s so difficult to try and get most—never all—of that sticky sauce out of the blender! And then you have to reheat it. However, if it’s to be a machine I prefer the food processor, and I also recommend the processor for mayonnaise.
