Bearnaise Sauce

I made my first attempt at cooking bearnaise sauce yesterday. There is a thin line between bearnaise sauce and scrambled egg with tarragon and I was on the wrong side of that line.

Any thoughts on how to do it right?

hi.

Bearnaise can be "fixed" by rapidly whisking in a little blazing hot water. the resulting sauce is passable, but not quite as good as getting it perfect the first time. It is probably technique, rather than recipe, that is breaking your sauce.

i've seen a few bearnaise recipes floating around, most of them bending the rule that "melted butter rarely makes good sauce," by adding the butter, melted and clarified, to the sabayon of vinegar, tarragon, and eggs. I have also seen people stir in quantities of softened but not melted butter. if you are using whole butter, it will need to be softened but solid. if you are using clarified butter, it is probably best melted and not too hot.

Work on a double boiler. dont have one? put a stainless mixing bowl or wok on top of a stock pot. the gentle heat is needed to keep the eggs from seizing. reduce your vinegar and aromatics until almost dry (a sec). remove from heat and allow a second for it to cool, then whisk in the well beaten eggs. once the emulsion is mixed properly, return to heat and cook, stirring constantly and slowly add in the butter.

good luck!!

Erik.

I have had great success pouring hot melted butter into a running blender with the egg yolks, salt and lemon juice when making hollandaise. I don't see why it wouldn't work for bearnaise. It's Julia Child's method and I like it a lot, though I do use the traditional method on occasion.

In "From Julia Child's Kitchen" not only is there at least one recipe for bernaise, but also instructions for how to make it in a blender. While I usually prepare my bernaise the traditional way, I've used her blender version and thought that it turned out great.

Good luck!

SushiGaijin wrote:hi.

Bearnaise can be "fixed" by rapidly whisking in a little blazing hot water. the resulting sauce is passable, but not quite as good as getting it perfect the first time. It is probably technique, rather than recipe, that is breaking your sauce.

I've actually always heard it's ice water, not hot water, but I've never tried it. I would think that hot water would risk cooking the eggs, no?

Another trick for fixing a broken hollandaise/bernaise is to whisk an egg yolk with warm water in a separate bowl, and then slowly whisk in the broken sauce into the yolk to re-emulsify it. Still other chefs simply use vinegar in a warm bowl for the same results. Note: this only works for broken sauces (where the butter has come out of emulsion with the yolk), not scrambled eggs.

A good basic Hollandaise recipe is from Alton Brown:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes ... 24,00.html

Personally, I use melted butter, no sugar, and no double boiler for my hollandaises or bernaises. To adapt this for a bernaise, just use a cooled down reduction of vinegar, wine, shallots, and tarragon instead of lemon juice.

And here's a little science about Hollandaise and other emulsified sauces to help you understand the principles at work.

I learned how to make a killer Bearnaise sauce at Cordon Bleu - Julia's culinary alma mater. But just when I thought I'd mastered the technique, during a practical exam I scrambled one batch after another. There is no fixing a scrambled base. But yes, you can fix a separated sauce - slightly tip the pot - with a folded kitchen towel underneath - drizzle in some cold water at the top edge of the broken sauce while whisking gently to start a re-emulsification - and hold your breath and pray. Here's the recipe I adapted - and finally perfected - at Cordon Bleu.

Bearnaise Sauce

Reduction
- 50 grams dry white wine
- 50 grams cider vinegar
- 20 grams shallots, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon tarragon stems, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon chervil stems, roughly chopped (optional)
- 1 pinch crushed white peppercorns

- 4 large egg yolks
- 50 grams cold water
- 180 grams warm clarified butter
- fine salt

Finish
- 1 teaspoon tarragon, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon chervil, finely chopped (optional)

Start a bain marie (pot of simmering water – water should not touch bottom of bowl).

Prepare the reduction - boil the wine and cider with the finely chopped shallots, chopped tarragon and chervil stems, and crushed white peppercorns. Reduce to a syrup then set aside.

In a metal bowl off heat whisk yolks with cold water until frothy. Set over bain marie and whisk constantly until the mixture forms a ribbon. (The bowl should be warm but if it’s too hot to handle with your bare hands, reduce the heat.) Turn off heat then whisk in the reduction.

Place the bowl on a damp towel (to stabilize it while whisking) and while constantly whisking, drizzle in the warm clarified butter.

Season to taste.

Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve. Serve immediately or cover and keep warm.

Immediately before serving, add the finely chopped tarragon and chervil to finish.

This blender hollandaise recipe works for me. It's fast, easy and delicious -- and it never breaks. For bearnaise, just substitute strained vinegar/tarragon/shallot reduction for the lemon juice.

LAZ wrote:This blender hollandaise recipe works for me. It's fast, easy and delicious -- and it never breaks. For bearnaise, just substitute strained vinegar/tarragon/shallot reduction for the lemon juice.

Just out of curiosity. I've only made hollandaise the traditional way, but I wouldn't be averse to using a blender to save the time and hassle. How does blender hollandaise compare with the normal version?

I used a metal bowl and wisk for years, until I tried a blender. It may not be traditional, but it works great and is easier.

Best,
Al

I emulsify garlic oil and yogurt mixtures in a food processor all the time, i would imagine that hollandaise/bearnaise works the same. The raw emulsions that I usually am making DO break over time, but are much nicer looking than a hand made sauce.

I Think the key to a good sabayon is to emulsify the liquids under very low heat, and that "scrambled eggs" is caused by over-heating the emulsion with insufficient whisking. a food processor would eliminate the heat variable and the insufficient whisking variable.

A small amount of whisked in boiling water will fix a broken emulsion, this is a technique i learned from a CIA instructor. It will not make scrambled eggs in a broken hollandaise, but it must be whisked in slowly. Hot water definately fixes emulsions that do not have liasons like eggs, it will fix salad dressings and sauces with yogurt and oil, etc.

in the worst case, just pull the butter out of the sauce and start from scratch: the butter is the expensive part anyway, and it is easy to ladle it out of a broken hollandaise/bearnaise. I know a lot of breakfast lines who intentionally break hollandaise at the end of service just to extract the butter to cook lunch with.

Erik.

Binko wrote:How does blender hollandaise compare with the normal version?

In terms of taste and texture, it's pretty much the same. It doesn't get as hot as you might be able to achieve with the old-fashioned method, but you don't risk overheating, either.

Since I normally put hollandaise over hot food (poached eggs, steamed asparagus, etc.), the slightly lower temperature of the sauce is never a problem in the finished dish.

Try it yourself. The hardest part is separating the eggs.

Wild Success! Last night for the first time I made blender Hollandaise/Bearnaise sauce, using LAZ's basic recipe emended by Louisa Chu's tarragon reduction.

Splendid taste and texture, the asparagas tiede was admired--not to mention eaten--by all.

Tnx folks!

Geo