Hollandaise Sauce
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot (1/2 medium)
- 1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
- 3 tablespoons boiling water
- 3 large egg yolks
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Make reduction Combine wine, vinegar, shallot, and peppercorns in a small skillet over medium-high heat; cook until reduced to 1 tablespoon, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the boiling water and strain through a fine sieve into a heatproof nonreactive (stainless-steel or glass) bowl.
- Prepare bain marie (hot-water bath) Fill a medium saucepan with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat so water is barely simmering.
- Heat egg yolks Add egg yolks to strained reduction and whisk, off the heat, until they become pale.
- Place bowl over the bain-marie.
- Whisking constantly, cook until the mixture is thick enough to hold a trail from the whisk and begins to hold its shape when drizzled from the whisk.
- Remove from heat.
- Wipe off any mixture that may have cooked onto the side of the pot with a damp paper towel to prevent any lumps from forming.
- Incorporate butter Whisking constantly, add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until each addition is incorporated completely before adding the next.
- When all the butter has been added, season with lemon juice, salt, and cayenne.
- The sauce should be thick but still able to drizzle from a spoon (and it should form a pool, not a mound).
- If it is too thick, thin it with a little water.
- Although traditionally made with melted clarified butter (page 88), softened butter emulsifies more readily with the egg yolks and produces a lighter texture.
- Do not overheat the egg yolks; temper them instead by mixing with a bit of boiling water before placing in the hot-water bath to keep them from scorching.
- Simmer over very low heat.
- If the egg mixture is heated too quickly, it turns grainy; if cooked too long over too high a temperature, it will scramble.
- Add butter gradually to allow the mixture to emulsify.
- Adding too quickly will cause the emulsion to break or separate, preventing the liquid and butter from combining.
- Adjust the finished sauce with water to thin, and add lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper to flavor.
- If not serving immediately, cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming, and set over a pot of water that has been brought to a simmer and then removed from heat, or in a warm spot on the stove for up to 1 hour.
- Alternatively, store in a clean thermos warmed with hot but not boiling water, holding it for 2 or 3 hours at most.
white wine, white wine vinegar, shallot, cracked black, boiling water, egg yolks, unsalted butter, lemon juice, coarse salt, cayenne pepper
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hollandaise-sauce-393807 (may not work)