Hollandaise sauce
Encyclopedia
Emulsion
An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible . Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Although the terms colloid and emulsion are sometimes used interchangeably, emulsion is used when both the dispersed and the...
of egg yolk
Egg yolk
An egg yolk is a part of an egg which feeds the developing embryo. The egg yolk is suspended in the egg white by one or two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae...
and butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
, usually seasoned with lemon juice
Lemon juice
The lemon fruit, from a citrus plant, provides a useful liquid when squeezed. Lemon juice, either in natural strength or concentrated, is sold as a bottled product, usually with the addition of preservatives and a small amount of lemon oil.-Uses:...
. In appearance it is light yellow and opaque, smooth and creamy. The flavor is rich and buttery, with a mild tang added by the lemon juice, yet not so strong as to overpower mildly-flavored foods.
Hollandaise is one of the five sauces in the French
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
haute cuisine
Haute cuisine
Haute cuisine or grande cuisine was characterised by French cuisine in elaborate preparations and presentations served in small and numerous courses that were produced by large and hierarchical staffs at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe.The 17th century chef and writer La Varenne...
mother sauce repertoire. It is considered notoriously difficult to make, because yolks tend to scramble when heated. It is so named because it was believed to have mimicked a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
sauce
Sauce
In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted...
for the state visit to France of the King of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Hollandaise sauce is well known as a key ingredient of eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict is a dish that consists of two halves of an English muffin, topped with ham or bacon, poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce.-Origin:There are conflicting accounts as to the origin of Eggs Benedict, including:...
, and is often paired with vegetables such as steamed asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
.
History
There is debate as to who originally developed Hollandaise sauce. Many historians believe that it was actually invented in the Netherlands and then taken back to France by the Huguenots. A recipe for Hollandaise sauce appears in a Dutch cookbook by Carel Baten, which dates from 1593. In 1651, François Pierre La VarenneFrançois Pierre La Varenne
François Pierre de la Varenne , Burgundian by birth, was the author of Le Cuisinier françois , the founding text of modern French cuisine. La Varenne broke with the Italian traditions that had revolutionized medieval French cookery in the 16th century...
describes a sauce similar to Hollandaise sauce in his groundbreaking cookbook Le Cuisinier François:
"avec du bon beurre frais, un peu de vinaigre, sel et muscade, et un jaune d’œuf pour lier la sauce"
("with good fresh butter, a little vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
, salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
, and nutmeg
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
, and an egg yolk to bind the sauce").
Alan Davidson
Alan Davidson (food writer)
Alan Eaton Davidson was a British diplomat and historian best known for his writing and editing on food and gastronomy. He was the author of the 900-page, encyclopedic The Oxford Companion to Food .The son of a Scottish tax inspector, Davidson was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland...
notes a "sauce à la hollandoise" from François Marin's Les Dons de Comus (1758), but since that sauce included flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, bouillon
Bouillon (broth)
Bouillon, in French cuisine, is simply a broth. This name comes from the verb bouillir, meaning to boil. It is usually made by the simmering of mirepoix and aromatic herbs with either beef, veal, or poultry bones and/or with shrimp, or vegetables in boiling water.This is not to be confused with...
, herb
Herb
Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...
s, and omitted egg yolks, it may not be related to the modern Hollandaise. However, Larousse Gastronomique states that, in former times fish 'à la hollandaise' was served with melted butter (implying that at one time egg yolks were not a part of the designation, Hollandaise). Davidson also quotes from Harold McGee
Harold McGee
Harold McGee is an American author who writes about the chemistry, technique and history of food and cooking and has written two seminal books on kitchen science. His first book, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen was initially published in 1984. A greatly revised second...
(1990), who explains that eggs are not needed at all and proper emulsification can simply be created with butter. He also states that if one does wish to use eggs they are not needed in so great a quantity as normally called for in tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
al recipes.
The sauce using egg yolks and butter appeared in the nineteenth century. Although various sources say it was first known as "sauce Isigny
Isigny-sur-Mer
Isigny-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Geography:Positioned at the bottom of the baie des Veys, Isigny is an important milk production area, known for its AOC butter and cream, as well as its cheeses made by the Isigny Sainte...
" (a town in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
said to have been renowned for the quality of its butter), Isabella Beeton's Household Management had recipes in the first edition (1861) for "Dutch sauce, for fish" (p. 405) and its variant on the following page, "Green sauce, or Hollandaise verte". Her directions for hollandaise seem somewhat fearless:
- "Put all the ingredients, except the lemon-juice, into a stew-pan; set it over the fire, and keep continually stirring. When it is sufficiently thick, take it off, as it should not boil..."
Preparation
Hollandaise is considered to require some skill and knowledge to prepare and hold. Properly made, it will be smooth and creamy with no hint of separation. The flavor will be rich and buttery, with a mild tang from the lemon juice. It is best prepared and served warm, but not hot.
There are multiple methods for preparing a Hollandaise sauce. All methods require near-constant agitation, usually executed with a wire whisk. First the yolk and lemon juice (or water) should be whisked off heat until light and frothy, then while whisking vigorously over warm water, becoming pale yellow and expanding two or three times in volume. Then removed from heat, warm (not hot) butter (or clarified butter) is added slowly to the sauce in dribbles. The sauce can be served promptly, at room temperature, or having being brought to room temperature after refrigeration. It freezes well, easier to thaw and reconstitute if frozen in portions.
One family of methods involves acidifying the egg yolks to aid in the formation of an emulsion, either with lemon juice or vinegar. Escoffier uses a reduction
Reduction (cooking)
In cooking, reduction is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice by boiling....
of vinegar and water. Others use lemon juice or sherry
Sherry
Sherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
. The acidified yolks are whisked gently over simmering water until they thicken and lighten in color (144 °F/62 °C). Then, as with a mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
, the emulsion is formed by very slowly whisking melted butter into it. Use of clarified butter
Clarified butter
Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the different components to separate by density...
is common. Some varieties of this preparation use water of various volume and temperatures.
Alton Brown
Alton Brown
Alton Crawford Brown is an American television personality, author, actor, and cinematographer. He is the creator and host of the Food Network television show Good Eats and the mini-series Feasting on Asphalt and Feasting on Waves, and he is the host and main commentator on Iron Chef America...
espouses quite a different method. The yolks, without acid, are cooked as above. Then the upper pan is removed from heat and cold cubed butter (unclarified) is whisked in, a few cubes at a time. The emulsion forms as the cubes melt. The pan is returned to heat only when the emulsion cools too much to melt more cubes. Lemon is used as a finishing flavor. This method takes more time than traditional methods, but is more reliable in that, it is difficult to overheat the forming emulsion.
The above methods are known as "bain marie methods". Another family of methods uses a blender. Yolks are placed in a blender, then - at a temperature higher than appropriate for bain marie methods - butter is drizzled into the blender. Heat from the butter cooks the yolks. Blender methods are much quicker, although temperature control is difficult. The products of blender methods may be acceptable, but are generally considered to be inferior to the products of bain marie methods.
Joy of Cooking describes a preparation unlike all the above, using whole eggs, and slowly adding the egg mixture to melted butter over direct heat. It also includes variations incorporating sour cream and paprika
Paprika
Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of dried fruits of Capsicum annuum . In many European languages, the word paprika refers to bell peppers themselves. The seasoning is used in many cuisines to add color and flavor to dishes. Paprika can range from mild to hot...
, or cream and nutmeg
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
.
Note that in all methods the temperature must be closely controlled. Too much heat and the yolks will curdle (180 °F/82 °C) or an emulsion break (separate). Too little heat and an emulsion will fail to form, or (once formed), will solidify. Once the yolks are prepared, the sauce should be not much warmer than required to maintain the butter in a liquid state, that is, a little warmer than body temperature. Be sure to consider both the temperature of the yolks and emulsion and that of the melted butter. A finished sauce may be "held" in its emulsified state for several hours by keeping it warm. Success with freezing Hollandaise has been reported, but it is not widely practiced.
A normal ratio of ingredients is 1 egg yolk : 4-6 Tbs. butter. Flavorings may include lemon juice and salt to taste.
Derivatives of Hollandaise sauce
Being a mother sauce, Hollandaise sauce is the foundation for many derivatives created by adding or changing ingredients. The following is a non-exhaustive listing of such minor sauces.
- The most common derivative is Sauce BéarnaiseBearnaise sauceBéarnaise sauce is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a 'child' of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire...
. It can be produced by replacing the acidifying agent (vinegar reduction or lemon juice) in a preparation with a strained reductionReduction (cooking)In cooking, reduction is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice by boiling....
of vinegar, shallots, fresh chervilChervilChervil is a delicate annual herb related to parsley. Sometimes called garden chervil, it is used to season mild-flavoured dishes and is a constituent of the French herb mixture fines herbes.-Biology:...
, fresh tarragonTarragonTarragon or dragon's-wort is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae related to wormwood. Corresponding to its species name, a common term for the plant is "dragon herb". It is native to a wide area of the Northern Hemisphere from easternmost Europe across central and eastern Asia to India,...
and (if to taste) crushed peppercorns. Alternatively, the flavorings may be added to a standard Hollandaise. Béarnaise and its children are often used on steak or other "assertive" grilled meats and fish.- Sauce Choron is a variation of béarnaise without tarragon or chervil, plus added tomato purée.
- Sauce Foyot (a.k.a. Valois) is béarnaise with meat glaze (Glace de Viande) added.
- Sauce Colbert is Sauce Foyot with the addition of reducedReduction (cooking)In cooking, reduction is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice by boiling....
white wine. - Sauce Café de Paris is béarnaise with curry powder added.
- Sauce Paloise is a version of béarnaise with mintMenthaMentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
substituted for tarragon.
- Sauce au Vin Blanc (for fish) is produced by adding a reductionReduction (cooking)In cooking, reduction is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice by boiling....
of white wine and fish stock to hollandaise. - Sauce Bavaroise is hollandaise with added cream, horseradishHorseradishHorseradish is a perennial plant of the Brassicaceae family, which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, and cabbages. The plant is probably native to south eastern Europe and the Arab World , but is popular around the world today...
, and thymeThymeThyme is a culinary and medicinal herb of the genus Thymus.-History:Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage...
. - Sauce Crème Fleurette is hollandaise with crème fraîcheCrème fraîcheCrème fraîche is a soured cream containing about 28% butterfat and with a pH of around 4.5. It is soured with bacterial culture, but is less sour than sour cream. It has a comparatively high viscosity and a higher fat content....
added. - Sauce Dijon, also known as Sauce Moutarde or Sauce Girondine, is hollandaise with Dijon mustard.
- Sauce Maltaise is hollandaise to which blanched orange zest and the juice of blood orangeBlood orangeThe blood orange is a variety of orange with crimson, blood-colored flesh. The fruit is smaller than an average orange; its skin is usually pitted, but can be smooth. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a family of pigments common to many flowers and fruit, but...
is added. - Sauce MousselineMousselineA mousseline is a dish based on meat, fish, shellfish or foie gras to which whipped cream or, less frequently, beaten egg whites are added to lighten the texture by incorporating air bubbles. "Mousseline" is a derivative of "mousse"....
, also known as Sauce Chantilly, is produced by folding whipped cream into hollandaise.- If reducedReduction (cooking)In cooking, reduction is the process of thickening and intensifying the flavor of a liquid mixture such as a soup, sauce, wine, or juice by boiling....
sherrySherrySherry is a fortified wine made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez , Spain. In Spanish, it is called vino de Jerez....
is first folded into the whipped cream, the result is Sauce Divine. - Madame Benoit's recipe for Mousseline uses whipped egg whites instead of whipped cream.
- If reduced
- Sauce Noisette is a hollandaise variation made with browned butter (beurre noisetteBeurre noisetteBeurre noisette is frequently used in French pastry production. It can also be used as a warm sauce to accompany many foods, such as winter vegetables, pasta, fish, omelettes, and chicken.Unsalted butter is melted over low heat and allowed to separate into butterfat and milk solids...
).
Trivia
In the 1936 film Desire
Desire (1936 film)
Desire is an American romantic drama film released in 1936 and directed by Frank Borzage. It was produced by Borzage and Ernst Lubitsch. The picture is a remake of the 1933 German film Die Schönen Tage von Aranjuez. The screenplay was written by Samuel Hoffenstein, Edwin Justus Mayer and Waldemar...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
's character keeps proposing "some more" sauce hollandaise "with the fricassee
Fricassee
Fricassee or Fricassée is a catch-all term used to describe a stewed dish typically made with poultry, but other types of white meat can be substituted. It is cut into pieces and then stewed in gravy, which is then thickened with butter and cream or milk . It often includes other ingredients and...
of chicken" in a tense scene of dialogue between her lover (Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
) and her partner in theft.
External links
- Mrs. Beeton, The book of household Management, 1861: Project Gutenberg e-text
- History of Sauces
- History of Hollandaise
- How To Make Hollandaise Sauce Step-by-step tutorial from About.com (generally good, but a glass or ceramic bowl is not recommended as they make it too difficult to control the heat)
- Free Culinary School Podcast Episode 8 A podcast (audio) episode that talks about the proper classical technique for making Hollandaise and the science behind the method.