Hollandaise (Butter to Egg Yolk)

3

Egg yolks (large) — Whisked over a bain-marie to the ribbon stage (65 °C) before butter is added

225 g

Clarified butter (or ghee) — Warm but not hot (50–55 °C); removing milk solids reduces breakage risk and boosts stability

1 tbsp

Lemon juice — Half at the reduction stage, half at the finish; provides acid backbone

2 tbsp (reduced from 4 tbsp)

White-wine vinegar reduction — Shallot, black pepper, vinegar reduced by half — the classic flavour base; strain before use

to taste

Fine salt and white pepper — White pepper preferred to avoid black specks in the pale yellow sauce

1–2 tsp

Water (optional) — A splash can thin an over-reduced sauce or assist re-emulsification

Combine the strained reduction with yolks in a heatproof bowl. Set over a pot of barely simmering water (bain-marie), ensuring the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens, triples in volume, and reaches 65 °C — yolks should coat the whisk in a pale, voluminous ribbon. Remove from heat. Whisk in warm clarified butter in a slow, thin stream, exactly as with mayonnaise. Season with lemon juice, salt, and white pepper. Hold at 60–65 °C (set bowl in warm water bath) and serve within 90 minutes.

• Keep the bain-marie water at a bare simmer, never a boil — steam rising from vigorous boiling will over-heat the bowl's rim and scramble the edges of the yolk mixture.
• The clarified butter should be warm to the touch (around 50 °C) when added — cold butter shocks the emulsion; butter above 60 °C risks cooking the yolks on contact.
• If the sauce begins to look oily or granular, immediately whisk in 1–2 tsp of cold water to cool and re-emulsify.
• To hold service: transfer finished sauce to a warm (not hot) thermos or double boiler at 60 °C; stir gently every 15 minutes. Discard after 2 hours.
• Whole unsalted butter can replace clarified butter for a more complex, slightly more fragile sauce — the water and milk solids add flavour but lower the stability ceiling.
• A broken hollandaise can often be rescued by whisking the broken sauce drop by drop into a fresh yolk in a clean warm bowl.

• Béarnaise

  Reduction uses tarragon and chervil instead of plain shallot; finish with chopped fresh tarragon — the classic sauce for steak

• Sauce Choron

  Béarnaise with tomato concassée folded in; good with grilled fish and lamb

• Sauce Maltaise

  Hollandaise finished with blood-orange juice and zest instead of lemon; pairs with asparagus

• Sauce Mousseline (Chantilly)

  Softly whipped cream folded into finished hollandaise just before service; lighter, more delicate

• Blender Hollandaise

  Yolks blended in a standing blender while hot butter is poured in a stream — faster and less likely to scramble, but slightly less silky

• Mayonnaise (Oil to Egg Yolk)

  Cold counterpart — same emulsification principle; yolk, fat, and acid but at ambient temperature

• Beurre Blanc (Butter to Reduction)

  Warm butter sauce without yolk; relies on butter's own milk proteins for transient emulsification

• Classic Vinaigrette (3:1 Oil to Acid)

  The simplest fat-and-acid sauce; hollandaise is its fully stabilised, cooked, buttery relative

1. 1.Mastering the Art of French Cooking — Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle & Simone Beck
2. 2.Larousse Gastronomique — Prosper Montagné (ed. 2009)
3. 3.On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen — Harold McGee
4. 4.Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making — James Peterson

Confidence: high