# Hollandaise sauce



## chrisbristol (Feb 16, 2014)

Hello I just made a hollandaise sauce. The recipe I used is below. I made it twice because it split the first time because the eggs scrambled lightly. Anyway It was really nice. I didn't have tarragon vinegar so I added clear vinegar to it and then added some dried tarragon to it. The only problem was it was a bit to thin. Not to much but slightly. It was possibly because the eggs hadn't been whisked on the heat for long enough but I was worried about them scrambling. Also I added to butter of the heat like the recipe said but I watched a Gordon Ramsay video and he said to add it on the heat. I let the butter call slightly again to stop the eggs form scrambling so it was a little bit colder than I would have liked. Would it be better to add the butter on the heat?

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3921/dead-good-hollandaise-


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## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

Yes, over a low flame, the longer you whisk the thicker it gets. You can always whisk your eggs and acid together before putting it on a flame and slightly warming while emulsifying. A lot of people prefer to do it in a metal bowl over a simmering pot of water. I like to use whole butter instead of clarified and just work it in like I was making beurre monte. It's easier and tastes virtually the same but this is classified as a bearnaise without terragon.


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## kingfarvito (May 7, 2012)

I personally add my butter off the heat. Reduction and egg yolk with a splash of water get whisked over the grill (boiling water would be better for a beginner) until the bottom of the bowl starts to streak. Then I add 6-8 oz of clarified butter per egg yolk.


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

Use a water bath until you have mastered that, then you can go to an open flame.
I made gallons of hollandaise, bearnaise, choron, daily for years.

Make your yolks the thickness that you want the sauce to be.


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## chrisbristol (Feb 16, 2014)

So as long as I'm very careful that the eggs are on a low heat and constantly whisked they won't scramble and split the sauce?


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

I agree with Chef Bubba use a water bath until you make it a few times. Then you can use a blender and hot butter if you lioke


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

See mine. There is only a splash of water in the pan, no vinegar. When the steam comes out is when the yolks are cooked. At this point you can decide if you want to cook the yolks more, if so, add a splash more water.

Add salt and pepper, lemon juice at the end. This is your basic Hollandaise.

If you need to you can loosen it up afterward with a drop of warm water, tighten with cold. This is good to know if you want to hold it for anything past a couple minutes.

Also note, whisk in a figure 8 pattern.


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

A good tip on keeping your bowl steady when adding the butter is to roll up a couple of towels into a circle and set your bowl on that.


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## kingfarvito (May 7, 2012)

The towel trick works pretty well, I prefer a towel laid into a sautee pan, same idea, quicker to set up. Also if you add your acid first it brings up the coagulation temp of the protein in the eggs. This will make it harder to scramble the eggs. A note on not scrambling eggs, keep your water just below a summer and don't stop whisking.


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## alexalexnyc (Jun 24, 2012)

kingfarvito said:


> The towel trick works pretty well, I prefer a towel laid into a sautee pan, same idea, quicker to set up. Also if you add your acid first it brings up the coagulation temp of the protein in the eggs. This will make it harder to scramble the eggs. A note on not scrambling eggs, keep your water just below a summer and don't stop whisking.


A chef in Brooklyn taught me to add a light coating of vinegar on the yolks while it is in the mixing bowl and set it aside until it warms up a bit. When I'm done setting up the line for brunch (about 35-45 minutes) the yolks are ready for the Hollandaise process. I always use this method now and with great success. Sometimes it becomes _too_ tight and I have to thin it out with some water at the end. It holds well throughout the brunch shift.


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## fredrikh (Sep 5, 2014)

Reduce double cream until its really thick, add that to your sauce. You can put it in with your eggs in the beginning or add the finished sauce to the cream in the end (last way is the best way, and add the sauce to the cream, not the other way around). Makes it hold for ages. Also fixes it if it splits from standing to long/cold/hot.. 

I usually just whisk eggs yokes with some vinegar or and lemon until frothy and then add the hot melted butter, clarified first, if it gets to thick, add the white.

Hope it helps


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

I've posted 3 recipes for the following sauces directly from my computer files so please excuse any layout issues.

They are for a bulk prep and have been modified from the traditional recipe in regards to proportions. It is possible to scale things down for home use but add the season and flavor ingredients at the end to taste. Use caution since it can change the consistency given that was set in the initial cooking of the egg mixture. I did use the same method to cook the eggs initially, as highlighted by @kuan, and originally changed to this method as a measure to keep the sauce from breaking two hours into service. Seriously, it was a true pain in the ares to try and fix or remake the sauce in the middle of a 800 cover service and the reduction of clarified butter helped, it also lowered the food cost as an unintended side-effect. Everyone was happy with the end product since it remained a very rich and flavorful sauce that didn't break....even under direct exposure with heat lamps.

RECIPE TITLE: Sauce Hollandaise DATE: 04-12-1986

YIELD: SHELF LIFE: 4 hours

INGREDIENTS AMOUNT PROCEDURES

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


egg yolks

salt

white pepper

lemon juice, fresh

Tabasco sauce

water

butter, clarified, max 100 degrees

32

2 tsp

1 tsp

3 Tbl + 2 tsp

1 Tbl

2 Tbl

2 qts

Separate eggs and place in large mixing bowl. Combine all ingredients, except butter, and mix thoroughly. Cook over low-medium flame, constantly whipping to prevent eggs from scrambling. Cook until thick, smooth and ribbon-like or nappe in consistency. Remove from heat and let set for 2-3 minutes to stabilize. Next, very, very slowly add clarified butter, whipping fast constantly.

S.I. If you add butter too fast or mixture is too hot, it will cause sauce to break.

[hr][/hr]
RECIPE TITLE: Sauce Béarnaise DATE: 04-12-1986

YIELD: SHELF LIFE: 4 hours

INGREDIENTS AMOUNT PROCEDURES 


Hollandaise sauce

red wine vinegar

tarragon, dried*

red onion, minced fine

*Fresh may be substituted at the rate of 1oz. wt but remove all large stems, chop and add at to vinegar reduction at halfway point of reducing.

1 X batch

1 cup

3 Tbl

1/4 cup

Place red wine vinegar, red onion and tarragon in small saute' pan and reduce over medium-high flame until mixture is just moist. (Caution DO NOT brown mixture!) Remove mixture from pan and fold into Hollandaise sauce.

KEEP AWAY FROM INTENSE HEAT!

[hr][/hr]
RECIPE TITLE: Sauce Choron DATE: 04-12-1986

YIELD: SHELF LIFE: 4 hours

INGREDIENTS AMOUNT PROCEDURES

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Béarnaise sauce

tomato paste*

Finely chopped, sundried tomatoes may be substituted at the same rate. Reconstitute the tomatoes by steeping them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain well and chop fine in Robot Coupe.

1 X Batch

1 cup

Place Béarnaise sauce in mixing bowl and add tomato paste. Gently fold tomato paste into sauce

Special instructions: Fold with plastic spatula. Start from outside and mix inward with figure 8 motion. DO NOT OVER MIX OR WHIP!

KEEP AWAY FROM EXTREME HEAT.

:edited for spelling


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

As an apprentice, we were never allowed to make Hollandaise until after a good stint in the pastry kitchen.  One of the big sellers for dessert was sabayon...

A good hollandaise is a sabayon with butter added.  Master the sabayon and you can dump butter in without it ever breaking,  I've done it in 30 qt Hobart bowls and dumped butter in, always holds, never breaks.

The "method" we were taught to make sabayon was to get a sauce pan full of boiling water.  In a mixing bowl, get the yolks, sugar, and booze combined.  Pull the sauce pan off the heat and make sure the bowl sits above the water, never in it. Whisk, and push the sauce pan over the heat when necessary, but never longer than 30 seconds.

Master the sabayon and your holly will never break...


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

While I admire those places that put Hollandaise on the menu, it is difficult to keep during service so many places make the fake stuff.

If I am having Eggs Benedict and the price is $9.95 I know the sauce is fake.

If I ask the server if they make their sauce from scratch and they say yes, then I'll order it....even then it may not be the real thing.

Why bother to even have it on the menu of it is not the REAL thing.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

oldschool1982 said:


> *800 cover service *(emphasis mine)


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

@kuan,

Seriously, 800!

There was a time in the 80's at this place back in Atlanta where our pace was up around 700-900 every Friday and Saturday night for months. The place had just finished an addition that added over 100 extra seats so before that, we were around 600 rather consistantly.

Anyhow, we'd knock out 400 on a Tuesday and I swear that was like sitting still. I think we averaged around $125,000 a week in sales (we're talking 1986 dollars) and I was lucky enough to be on Saute most of that time. That was the one position, other than expo, that directly used the sauce....on oysters Rock. Talk about a nightmare! 12 eye's (4 covered with cast iron blackening skillets) 4 ovens and a salamander. All I can say is thank gawd I had a runner for back-ups.

Hope the recipes made sense. It's been so long since I used them, I can't remember if there was anything I tweeked to make it work best. Something keeps telling me it was the butter so if anyone try's the recipes, please use your best judgment.


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## kingfarvito (May 7, 2012)

Ross,my phone wont let me quote, the country club I worked for has been running benedict for $10 for years. I was under the impression it was fairly common? Then again I don't go out to breakfast often.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

kingfarvito said:


> Ross,my phone wont let me quote, the country club I worked for has been running benedict for $10 for years. I was under the impression it was fairly common? Then again I don't go out to breakfast often.


*coff* Think he's talking real life where people want food cost down below 30 percent and don't pay overtime. Ever.


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## kingfarvito (May 7, 2012)

Alright you got me there, I'm on my way back into real restaurant life I swear!


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

I worked at a place where we did 700 plus fri-sat. Mothers day brunch was over a thousand. Coincidentaly the only place i,'ve worked that didn't have eggs benedict on the brunch menu!


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## meezenplaz (Jan 31, 2012)

Such a tradition /weekend staple at so many places for so many decades.

But now you got Sysco selling everyone plastic bags full of a

Hollandaise-like-substance. Quick, cheap, profitable...and thoroughly sarceligious.

A steadily passing era, at least at the mid-hi end and lower. Pity.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

What if you cook the liason first, then set it in the fridge.  When it comes time to make a batch just use the hot butter blender method.  Will that work?  Never tried it.


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

Gosh, thats a good idea. Would you be at risk of overcooking the eggs?


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Every Sunday early AM we would poach  90 dozen eggs. We served Benedict,, Salmon, Tournadoes, and home made sausage cake, either on English  muffin  or buttermilk biscuit. With either Hollandaise, or   Dill/caper Hollandaise. If there was a lot of poached left over we would cook them hard for egg salad.(  No Waste)


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

kuan said:


> What if you cook the liason first, then set it in the fridge. When it comes time to make a batch just use the hot butter blender method. Will that work? Never tried it.





Grande said:


> Gosh, thats a good idea. Would you be at risk of overcooking the eggs?


Thinking about the suggestion by @kuan , this could work but I don't have the means or need to try it so I'd have to agree with it in theory as a great suggestion. Yet, @Grande raises a concern I couldn't get around. How would you bring the liaison back up to temp. My thought was to temper in a water bath but it would need to be almost straight out of the tap. But, if your operation keeps the temp of the hot water at 180deg F, you would need to get it stabilized around 100-105 or so to reduce the risk of over cooking the liaison. I wonder, has anyone ever tried this?


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

@oldschool1982 It's already cooked and the hot clarified butter would do it. I think? I might try it out but my blender requires a lot of butter.


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## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

The blender is a great and easy technique although it makes your hollandaise SUPER thick, almost cheesy. It's practically bulletproof though. Add a little xantham and it IS bulletproof. Also it takes like five minutes or less.


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## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

This is great hearing all these super pros soundboard various methods but I haven't heard the op post back about attempted methods. Everyone always thinks 'Benedict' when someone mentions hollandaise but like everything we do we use different practices for different applications. I use a thicker hollandaise when binding carbonaras or even as a Shmear for egg in a frame sandwiches.


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## oldschool1982 (Jun 27, 2006)

To be perfectly honest, I never used the blender method. Yes......I have seen it used with both whole egg or just yolks and it's a 50/50 toss-up between success or failure. I had a Chef friend, that's all he used, but personally never liked a whole egg Hollandaise myself.

Anyhow, the one thing I can't seem to escape from is feeling the need to temper when combining cold and hot and the idea of something happening with the hot butter hitting the cold Liaison. Then again, if there is an issue, envisioning how fast a blender spins versus a whisk in the hand, it could probably eliminate any effects of the shock.........especially if you have one of those blenders from the old commercials that would heat stock into soup.

(fist shake) Dang you big blender!!!!!!!

@kuan you need a smaller blender to prove this! Hehehe

I would but if I make the sauce then someone has to eat the sauce and that's strictly verboten these days.


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## chefbuba (Feb 17, 2010)

I have used a 60 qt Hobart with a gallon can of sterno under the bowl several times back in the day of tornados or oscar for 1000


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

chefbuba said:


> I have used a 60 qt Hobart with a gallon can of sterno under the bowl several times back in the day of tornados or oscar for 1000


As have I.

Mother's Day brunch 5,000 people eggs Benedict on the line. Could not keep up with them.

Poached and shocked 500 eggs the night before.

Made Hollandaise several times throughout the brunch.

I too have never used a blender to make the sauce. Not sure. wouldn't take the chance.


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