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Sauce Béarnaise
I laughed out loud when a friend asked me: “You actually shot a hand-made béarnaise *while* you were making it?”, sounding quite surprised. I never thought about it like that. I guess it can be tricky, with all the whisking going on, but it’s doable. “Well, are there ways to do this without using your hands?“, I asked her. “Yeah“, she said, “toss it in a blender“.
A blender? You’re kidding me? I told her to hush and stop cursing like that. Julia Child must be rolling over in her grave, woman. That seems tantamount to sacrilege! Nope, not for me—I like cooking too much for using shortcuts like that. Putting in some work and actually make an effort to create something exquisite with nothing but your hands is so much more satisfying in the end.
I couldn’t have pulled it off without a good recipe, though. And this is definitely a good recipe. Tried and true, since I’ve been making it like this for a decade now and my sauce never seems to curdle or split—it just never happened—so I guess this really is a fool-proof recipe that would have done Julia proud.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 tbsp water
3 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 small shallot
2 white peppercorns
2 egg yolks
1 small bay leaf
5 oz butter (140 gr)
tarragon
chervil
Worcestershire sauce
cayenne
pepper
salt
Directions:
Finely mince a shallot.
Transfer the shallot to a small sauce pan and pour 3 1/2 tbsp water and 3 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar in there. Add a small bay leaf, 2 smashed up white peppercorns and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes, until the liquid cooked down to 1/4 of what you started with.
Put two really fresh egg yolks in a medium-sized and heat-proof bowl.
I don’t even own a double boiler, so I’m making this sauce au bain marie. Meaning that I grab a pan big enough to hold the bowl I’m using, yet small enough to make sure it fits snugly over the pan. Fill it with enough water to get the steam going but not so much that it will reach the bowl holding the eggs. Bring the water to a boil.
Use another pan to melt the butter, the butter needs to be liquefied but can’t be too hot.
After 10 minutes the vinegar water will have cooked down. Discard the bay leaf and let it cool off for a minute or 2 before adding the mix to the yolks.
Remove the pan from the stove and place the bowl with the yolks over the pan containing the hot water.
Now start whisking. And whisk constantly. Soon the yolk mixture will start to thicken.
That’s your cue to start adding melted butter. Drizzle it in very slowly, while continuing to whisk.
Keep going until all the butter is incorporated.
Now I couldn’t get my hands on fresh tarragon, so I had to use dried herbs. It works beautifully. Add the tarragon and chervil—I tend to go easy on the herbs, but use as much as you like.
Season the sauce with salt, pepper, a good pinch of cayenne and my secret ingredient: a few drops of Worcestershire sauce.
That’s all there is to making one of the most richest sauces ever.
Classic and traditional sauces like this take your meal from mundane to magical in the blink of an eye. This is a light, fresh, flavorful and subtle sauce. Serve it with a good steak, a perfect roast beef or even grilled chicken and you’ll have heaven on a plate. And in your mouth.
| Sauce Béarnaise | |
| Ingredients |
3 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 small shallot 2 white peppercorns 2 egg yolks 1 small bay leaf 5 oz butter (140 gr) tarragon chervil Worcestershire sauce cayenne pepper salt |
| Directions |
Put two really fresh egg yolks (or pasteurized) in a medium-sized and heat-proof bowl. Grab a pan big enough to hold the bowl I’m using, yet small enough to make sure it fits snugly over the pan. Fill it with enough water to get the steam going but not so much that it will reach the bowl holding the eggs. Bring the water to a boil. Use another pan to melt the butter, the butter needs to be liquefied but can’t be too hot. After 10 minutes the vinegar water will have cooked down. Discard the bay leaf and let it cool off for a minute or 2 before adding the mix to the yolks. Remove the pan from the stove and place the bowl with the yolks over the pan containing the hot water. Now start whisking. And whisk constantly. Soon the yolk mixture will start to thicken. That’s your cue to start adding melted butter. Drizzle it in very slowly, while continuing to whisk. Keep going until all the butter is incorporated. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, tarragon, chervil, a good pinch of cayenne and my secret ingredient: a few drops of Worcestershire sauce. |
| Meal type: | sauce |
| Servings: | 4 |
| copyright © kayotickitchen.com | |
Yummy!
So how did you shoot this while whisking with one hand and drizzling butter with the other? Camera on a tripod in front of you and you reaching around it or did you have someone to help you?
@Karohemd:
Camera on tripod right in front of me and shoot really quick. Had to stop whisking for a split second every now and then :)
@Kay: Impressive! What you need is a camera you can set to take a shot every x seconds (or the control software). With a fast enough shutter speed you should be able to continue whisking.
I love bearnaise, but never added Worc. sauce. I’ll have to give it a try. Delicious also over crab-stuffed flounder or sole!
The mostly empty bottle of Worcestershire proves beyond a doubt that you are definitely my kind of cook!
How did you know I was looking for this! I am going to make this today! I need to buy tarragon
chervil though..hmm… thank you !
@Karohemd:
Hmmmm. Aren’t there programs out there that can do that when you’re shooting tethered?
Beautiful sauce and pics. I made this sauce before in a cooking class, and learned it “breaks” quite easily. Yours turned out perfect. this is my fav steak sauce. Thanks!
I’ve been making my bearnaise (to rave reviews I might add!) in a blender for years. For me, it’s less about spending time doing “real” cooking (usually when I’m making it I’m making a multi-course fancy meal for alot of people) and more about how consistently it blends perfectly. I also like that it chews up the shallots and tarragon a bit making them blend seemlessly into the sauce. But to each her own and yours does look gorgeous!
This looks great, I’ve never made this before! Very impressive photography ;)
@Michele Morris:
Doesn’t the sauce stay kinda thin then? Obviously you’re not using heat to get the sauce all thick and fluffy, and that’s what I like so much about this sauce. I can see how it might work with a fast hollandaise sauce for a poached egg breakfast, though. But still, I don’t think it would be my way :)
I love it! I adore bernaise sauce and made it–once– it broke up on me, but I managed to fix it (forgot how, I think I whisked in more egg yolk). I saw Tyler Florence make a blender version, but I’m with you– if I’m going to blow my cholesterol sky high, then I’m going all the way! Great post and thank you!
Wow. I need to try this. If I can get it right, we’ll have it on Christmas eve.
Thanks.
What an amazing looking sauce! I’d love to ladle a bit onto a plate and top it with a seared fillet.
It looks wonderful. I like the texture too, so many recipes call for straining the liquid.
You’re right Kay, it is well worth the effort.
I’d rather eat my steak with bearnaise sauce than a dollop of mayonnaise or herb butter.
All are equally fattening but only one tastes heavenly.
@Vanessa:
I agree. If I have to eat a fattening sauce, I really want it to taste good :)
I used to strain it as well, until years ago a friend of mine (a chef) told me not to. I tried it without straining and found out that leaving the cooked down liquid in there adds even more flavor and depth to the sauce.
Love the little pot in the pic. where can i get one?
@gina:
You can’t. These kind of pots are usually antique.
@GINA: Try ebay. Look for crockery soup bowls. You’ll find similar pieces– of course not EXACTLY the same.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=crock+soup+bowl&_sacat=See-All-Categories
@Nicole:
These are actually specific sauce/gravy bowls, that’s why they have a pouring lip. Been trying to find more of them and they’re impossible to get these days.
Hello Kay…I am about the ease as well. And just to note, Julia was a big proponent of food processors and blenders…she would be proud. I plan to use on Christmas dinner with a roast rib of beef and other goodies from your site. I just want to say I feel blessed to have been led to your site and wish you and yours a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Ricci and Alvin in sunny Sarasota, Florida.
@Alvin:
I just read a piece about it. But really, if I eat something special like this, I want to eat the real deal. The one with the best flavor and structure possible. Here’s what Julia said:
“Ever the pragmatist, Julia Child knew American cooks needed both an understanding of classic recipes and tips for taking shortcuts. Which is why in her “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” she offered traditional versions of eggy hollandaise sauce, as well as a blender version she described as “well within the capabilities of an 8-year-old child.”
Hollandaise can be notoriously tricky to make, especially for inexperienced cooks, for whom the sauce can curdle. Child’s blender version is foolproof, though she acknowledges it’s not quite as good as traditional, hand-whipped versions.”
YUM!!!
Thanks for the recipe! This sounds much richer and creamier than a regular white sauce,
and I can think of all sorts of ways to use it!
Oh my Kay, I just did a post about you and Julia..
http://adman.livejournal.com/239360.html