Hollandaise Sauce
Ingredient
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp (5ml) water
1 tsp (5ml) lemon juice from 1 lemon
Kosher salt
100gms unsalted butter
Pinch cayenne pepper or hot sauce, optional
Method
In a cup just wide enough to fit the head of an immersion blender, combine egg yolks, water, lemon juice, & a pinch of salt. In a small saucepan, melt butter over high heat, swirling constantly, until foaming subsides. Transfer butter to a 1 cup liquid measuring cup.
Place head of immersion blender into the bottom of the cup & turn it on. With the blender constantly running, slowly pour hot butter into measuring cup in a thin stream. It should emulsify with the egg yolk & lemon juice. If needed, tilt the blender head up slightly to help the emulsification process. Continue pouring until all butter is added. Sauce should be creamy & thick enough to coat a spoon but still flow off of it. If it is too thick, whisk in a small amount of warm water, 1 tablespoon (15ml) at a time, to thin it out to the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt & a pinch of cayenne pepper or hot sauce if desired. Serve immediately, or transfer to a small lidded pot & keep in a warm place for up to 1 hour before serving. Hollandaise cannot be cooled & reheated.
Hollandaise sauce is unlike the mother sauces we’ve mentioned so far, due to a liquid & a thickening agent, plus flavourings. Hollandaise is a tangy, buttery sauce made by slowly whisking clarified butter into warm egg yolks; the liquid is the clarified butter & the thickening agent is the egg yolks.
Hollandaise is an emulsified sauce, & we use clarified butter when making a Hollandaise because whole butter, which contains water & milk solids, can break the emulsion. Clarified butter is just pure butterfat, so it helps the emulsion remain stable.
Hollandaise sauce can be used on its own, & it’s particularly delicious on seafood, vegetables, & eggs.
“If there’s one recipe that strikes fear into the hearts of cooks, one recipe that has a reputation for being difficult, it’s hollandaise sauce.
“Like mayonnaise, hollandaise is a fat-in-water emulsion. Normally, when you combine fat & water, the fat separates & forms a greasy layer that floats on top. The key to a successful emulsion is to break that fat up into individual droplets so small that they disperse evenly in your liquid.
“Now traditionally, you would do this by whisking egg yolks & lemon juice over a double boiler until they’re hot & frothy, then slowly whisking in butter in a thin, steady stream. The butter breaks into minute droplets, while the egg yolk acts as an emulsifier, helping to keep those droplets dispersed, as well as thickening the sauce. What you get is a creamy, smooth sauce with a rich texture & mild flavour, perfect for topping eggs, fish, or vegetables.
“But there are a lot of ways things can go wrong. If you don’t whisk fast enough or pour in your butter too fast it’ll turn greasy & broken. Don’t cook the eggs enough & it won’t thicken properly. If you cook the eggs too much & you’ll end up with clumpy, greasy, scrambled eggs.
“The reality is that if you’re going to learn how to do it the traditional way, the road to perfect hollandaise is going to be paved in broken sauces.
“But here’s the good news: there’s an alternative method that is completely foolproof, produces a hollandaise that is every bit as good as the traditional version, & takes about one minute start to finish. All you need is a small pot, a glass measuring cup, & a hand blender with a cup that just barely fits its head.
“We start by combining a couple of egg yolks in the base of the blender cup along with a teaspoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of water, & a pinch of salt. Next, we heat up a stick of butter on the stovetop until it is completely melted & bubbling. It should register around 220°F on an instant-read thermometer. Pour that butter into the measuring cup.
“Hollandaise will be at its best right when you make it, but If you want to store it, your best bet is to keep it in a small, lidded pot in a warm spot near your stove & make sure you use it within a couple hours.”
Béarnaise Sauce
Ingredient
125mls dry white wine
80mls white wine vinegar
3 sprigs chervil, leaves finely minced, stems reserved separately (optional; if not using add an extra sprig of tarragon)
3 sprigs tarragon, leaves finely minced, stems reserved separately
1 small shallot, roughly chopped
½ tsp whole black peppercorns
2 egg yolks
Kosher salt
50gms unsalted butter
Combine wine, vinegar, herb stems, shallots, & black peppercorns in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat & lower heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until reduced to about 1 1/2 tablespoons of liquid, about 15 minutes. Strain liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
Combine wine reduction, egg yolk, & a pinch of salt in the bottom of a cup that barely fits the head of an immersion blender. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, swirling constantly, until foaming subsides. Transfer butter to a 1-cup liquid measuring cup.
Place head of immersion blender into the bottom of the cup with the wine reduction & turn it on. With the blender constantly running, slowly pour hot butter into cup. It should emulsify with the egg yolk & wine reduction. Continue pouring until all butter is added. Sauce should be thick & creamy. Season to taste with salt. Whisk in chopped tarragon & chervil, if using. Serve immediately
Keep in a warm place for up to 1 hour before serving. Béarnaise cannot be cooled & reheated.
Foyot Sauce
Ingredient
Method
Foyot Sauce is a variation on the classic Béarnaise sauce made by adding meat glaze (glace de viande), a concentrated reduction of brown stock, to the basic Béarnaise. This gives the sauce a deep, meaty flavour that complements the tanginess of the Béarnaise. It is easy to make foyot sauce if you have these two ingredients on hand.
Glace de viande is simply a reduction from brown stock. It is thinner & more reduced than demiglace & can be used to enhance & fortify other stocks & sauces, such as this foyot sauce recipe. Homemade glace de viande takes about an hour to make, but this glace can be frozen for up to a year, so you always have some on hand to use as needed. This meat glaze can also be bought in the store or online.
Like Béarnaise, the Foyot Sauce is typically served with grilled steak, but you can serve it with anything grilled, even fish or vegetables.
How to Make Glace De Viande
This glace recipe, called glace de viande, is a concentrated reduction of ordinary brown stock. Glace de viande can be used to fortify sauces, & a spoonful of glace de viande is a great way to add flavor to other dishes. It stores well in the freezer, so in a pinch, you can add water & turn the glace back into stock again.
Glaces are simple to make—you just reduce the stock until it turns thick & syrupy. A word of caution, however: If you make a glace from store-bought stock, make sure it is unsalted. Otherwise, your finished glace will be insanely salty. To avoid this problem, you can make your own brown stock.
Glace de viande differs from demiglace in that it is much further reduced. While demiglace is stock that is reduced by half to three-quarters, glace de viande is reduced by a factor of eight to 10, until it is syrupy. When using glace de viande in a recipe that calls for demiglace; we have dedicated a full fact sheet & training module specifically to this classic sauce.
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the stock to a boil & then lower the heat to medium. As the stock simmers, you may see scum or other impurities rise to the surface. Skim these impurities off with a ladle.
Once the stock has reduced by a little over half, pour it through a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth into a smaller pot. Lower the heat a bit & continue reducing, skimming as needed.
The glace is finished when the liquid has reduced by over three-fourths & the glace is thick & syrupy. When you stir it, the glaze should coat the back of your spoon.
If freezing, you may want to freeze it in an ice cube tray in small portions to use in your recipes. It should solidify into gelatine in the refrigerator & you can cut it into cubes to be frozen. If you have a silicone mini-muffin form, you could freeze a tablespoon in each section. As recipes often call for only a tablespoon, freezing in small portions is a convenient way to achieve this. Press as much air out of the storage bag as possible before freezing.
Label the container with the name of the item—glace de viande (or meat glaze) & the date that you prepared it. The glace de viande should have a shelf life of a year when frozen.
Lobster Bisque Hollandaise
Ingredient:
70mls lobster bisque, concentrated
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp (5ml) water
1 tsp (5ml) lemon juice from 1 lemon
kosher salt
100gms unsalted butter
Method:
In a cup just wide enough to fit the head of an immersion blender, combine egg yolks, water, lemon juice, & a pinch of salt. In a small saucepan, melt butter over high heat, swirling constantly, until foaming subsides. Transfer butter to a 1 cup liquid measuring cup.
Place head of immersion blender into the bottom of the cup & turn it on. With the blender constantly running, slowly pour hot butter into measuring cup in a thin stream. It should emulsify with the egg yolk & lemon juice. If needed, tilt the blender head up slightly to help the emulsification process. Continue pouring until all butter is added. Sauce should be creamy & thick enough to coat a spoon but still flow off of it. If it is too thick, whisk in a small amount of warm water, 1 tablespoon (15ml) at a time, to thin it out to the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt & a pinch of cayenne pepper or hot sauce if desired. Serve immediately, or transfer to a small lidded pot & keep in a warm place for up to 1 hour before serving. Hollandaise cannot be cooled & reheated.
Hollandaise sauce is unlike the mother sauces we’ve mentioned so far, due to a liquid & a thickening agent, plus flavourings. Hollandaise is a tangy, buttery sauce made by slowly whisking clarified butter into warm egg yolks; the liquid is the clarified butter & the thickening agent is the egg yolks.
Hollandaise is an emulsified sauce, & we use clarified butter when making a Hollandaise because whole butter, which contains water & milk solids, can break the emulsion. Clarified butter is just pure butterfat, so it helps the emulsion remain stable.
Hollandaise sauce can be used on its own, & it’s particularly delicious on seafood, vegetables, & eggs.
Pour the bisque into a saucepan & also add the salt. Now bring this to a boil. Once it’s boiling turn down the heat & while blending add the tempered egg yolk. Directly mix some air in the mixture as well.
Then turn on the heat & while beating the mixture cook it till stiff peaks start to form. It needs to look like this. After that turn off the heat & add the cold cubes of butter. When necessary, add some salt for seasoning.
Now pour the hollandaise into a new pan to prevent the sauce from overcooking on the bottom & then it’s ready to be served.
Dijon Sauce
Ingredient
Method
Choron Sauce
Ingredient
Method
Maltaise Sauce
Ingredient:
Method: