French
Hollandaise Sauce
Hollandaise is a warm emulsion of egg yolk and clarified butter, stabilised by the lecithin in the yolks, acidulated with lemon juice or reduction. It breaks easily and is one of the most technically demanding sauces in classical French cooking. The egg yolk must be cooked enough to stabilise the emulsion (65-70C internal temperature) but not so much that it scrambles. The butter must be added slowly while the yolks are whisked continuously.
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I
The Market List
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3
large egg yolks
room temperature
Your own market
15 ml
fresh lemon juice
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 g
unsalted butter
clarified, warmed to 50°C
Your own market
2 g
fine sea salt
Your own market
1 pinch
white pepper
Your own market
1 pinch
cayenne pepper
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
1
Whisk egg yolks with lemon juice in heatproof bowl set over simmering water (bowl must not touch water); whisk constantly 3 minutes until pale and ribbon-like.
2
Remove bowl from heat; whisk continuously while slowly drizzling in warm clarified butter in thin stream, allowing emulsion to form.
From the canon — Whole butter contains three components: water (16%), milk solids (4%), and fat (80%). Clarified Butter (Beurre Clarifié) and Brown Butter (Beurre Noisette) →
3
Continue whisking and adding butter until sauce is thick, glossy, and pale yellow.
4
Taste and season with salt, white pepper, and cayenne; add pinch more lemon juice if needed.
5
Pass through fine-mesh chinois if lumpy; keep warm at 48–52°C in warm water bath.
6
If sauce breaks, whisk 5 ml cold water or cream in clean bowl and slowly whisk in broken sauce to re-emulsify.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Where it lives or dies. The moment where hollandaise lives or dies is the ribbon stage in the sabayon — before adding any butter, the yolks must reach the point where the whisk lifted from the mixture allows the yolk mixture to fall in thick ribbons that hold their shape on the surface. This means the yolks have cooked enough to form the protein network that will stabilise the emulsion. Add the butter too soon (before ribbons) and the sauce is unstable. The whole process — from starting the sabayon to finishing the butter — takes about 15 minutes of constant whisking.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sparkling wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
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