Hollandaise Sauce

I know. You’re asking yourself why would I ever want to make this myself when I can just buy a package of the dry mix, add some butter and/or milk and be done with it? Well, the answer is actually pretty simple. It is just about as easy to make it from scratch as it is to make one of those mixes and it tastes a damn sight better this way. The only thing that puts people off is that you should use a double boiler to make it. The reason for using a double boiler is so that you limit the amount of heat getting to the eggs and that they don’t set too quickly. A professional chef can skip the double boiler and make the sauce over very low heat. That means lots of practice for everyone else.

Ok, so the whole idea behind hollandaise sauce is that eggs are used to help thicken the butter to make a sauce. In order for this to happen, there needs to be lots of little bubbles in the eggs for the butter to get in to so that when the egg sets, the butter is trapped inside.  That is why you have to beat the eggs quickly and often, before, during and after adding the butter to the eggs. A wire whisk is the preferred tool for doing this as it helps to make a lot more little bubbles than any other type of implement you could choose.

So with these thoughts in mind, here’s how to make Hollandaise Sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 egg yolks
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp salt
hot water

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. In the top portion of a double boiler, quickly begin beating the egg yolks with a wire whisk. When the egg yolks start to thicken, add 1 Tbs hot water. Whisk the eggs until thoroughly mixed. Repeat this process with 3 more times. While continuing to whisk the eggs, add the lemon juice, Worcestershire, Tabasco and salt. Finally, slowly add the melted butter into the mix while continuing to whisk the mixture until it thickens slightly. Keep warm until ready to serve.