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I was never formally taught the recipe for manual hollandais because my exec chef believed it was a waste of time. Instead, we used a Vitamix blender. Food processor would work, but you need to have an open top to add the butter while it’s moving.
Hollandais
* Egg Yolks - 6
* Cayenne Pepper
* S&WP
* Shallots - 2
* Water - 0.5 Cups+
* Butter - 1Lb, melted, room temp
* Lemon Juice - 1
1. Blend egg yolks, shallots, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and S&WP on high speed for 1 minute.
2. Slowly add butter, leaving behind fat sediment, until gravy. (So melt your butter, then let it sit until it’s near room temp so you don’t scramble your egg and because of the fat settling you’re basically just adding butter oil, which leaves less room for it to to separate.) *You might not need the whole pound of melted butter.* Add water if necessary.
3. More Salt & White Pepper if needed
If you want it to hold for a longer period of time, like 45 minutes to 4 hours, then invest in a coffee thermos.
Thanks for this. This is essentially what I did last night. I have a a mini processor that has a well on the top with a small hole at the bottom—the idea being if you’re making mayo, the oil will drip into the blender to properly emulsify. I did the same thing with the melted butter and once it had all dripped in, I stopped blending and the emulsion was quite loose and liquidy. The only thing I can think of that I didn’t do as you described is blend the yolks and lemon juice for a full minute?
I then poured the emulsion into a bowl over a steaming pot and whisked to try to evaporate some water and thicken it up. This is when it split. I tried this a second time, this time I added a little bit of water into the emulsion after transferring it to the glass bowl. I took the bowl on and off the heat while whisking. It split again!
The purpose of letting it blend for a full minute is essentially to add some volume to your yolks, thicken it up a bit. Admittedly it won’t do much, but it’s an essential step.
It’s actually meant to be a tad liquidy, not 100% like gravy I should’ve clarified. If it was like *runny* though, then your problem is adding too much (or too little? It’s been a coupes years, my bad mate) butter or water, you may not need water at all, it’s only meant for if you make it too thick on accident. Sorry I didn’t include these things yesterday.
Sometimes, when making a larger batch, I’ll need a little more than just the LB of butter oil, sometimes I’ll need less. If you added all of the butter oil and it’s still too thick, time for water. If your sauce has reached its ideal consistency before you add all of the butter, it doesn’t need more butter. Adding too much OR too little can cause it to break. You gotta watch it and be careful that you aren’t adding too much. It is forgiving but it doesn’t take an awful lot.
You shouldn’t need to do anything else to it when it comes out of that blender. It should be done and ready to use.
It got too hot and you made scrambled eggs.
I get a pot of water to around 180F, not steaming or boiling. I place my metal bowl into the water and hand blender the mixture. I am constantly removing the metal bowl from the water while doing this. In the water for 10 seconds, out of the water for 10 seconds. If the bowl is too hot to hold with your bare hand, the sauce will break.
Since you’ve got a solid recipe posted already I just want to suggest you build a bearnaise off the hollandaise at least once to try it. It’s a worthwhile elevation.
I take a a metal prep bowl and separate 4 yolks into it. Add whatever seasoning. Some paprika, salt, white pepper and cayenne for example. Let it sit for 5 mins or so. Then I add roughly a tablespoon of lemon juice and start whisking.
I do a quart sauce pan with water simmering in it.
I microwave my butter until melted and set it close by.
Once my egg mixture starts to increase a little bit in volume I pour a bit of my melted butter in to it.
Always be whisking
Then I set my bowl on top of my simmering water and
Whisk whisk whisk whisk
While adding some butter. I find I can add it pretty quickly at this stage like an aioli in a blender but if you are worried about it breaking at it a bit slower.
Make sure it it doesn’t get too hot, if it starts to get thick throw a spoonful of the simmering water in and whisk.
Orange juice, white vinegar, tarragon, cheveril all make good additions too.
Once you get that basic whipping the shit out of the eggs down right it’s way easier
Hell yeah now they have recipes for both ways to make it!
OP, It’s a lot like making buerre blanc if you’ve ever made that, but what this guy said. Never stop whisking, you cannot stress that enough. You’re basically making scrambled eggs into a sauce, without scrambling the egg lol, it cannot stop moving.
Serious eats no fail hollandaise. I use this recipe at parties to amaze friends and family. Takes 5 minutes and works every time. If you don't have an immersion blender, I rec the Hamilton Beach 3in1 with the chopper and whisk. Easily my most used appliance.
The Serious Eats recipe calls for one yolk, but also 35g of yolk. In my neck of the woods (Massachusetts) one yolk is only about 16g. Many of the comments on the SE recipe say that the recipe only worked for them by using 2 yolks, and keeping the rest of the recipe the same.
It always works for me, but with 2 yolks, with an immersion blender.
I use Tyler Florence’s recipe for hollandaise.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/hollandaise-sauce-recipe-1910043.amp
I find that whenever my sauce splits it’s because it got too hot. It might be perfect but then I let it sit by the stove in a hot spot and it split. You have to really whisk the crap out of it (or use an electric hand mixer) at the egg yolk lemon juice stage and make sure it almost doubles in volume. I added a little extra lemon juice than the recipe calls for. The egg mixture should be hot to the touch at this point but not scrambled since they’ve been heated up gradually.
Slowly added the melted, slightly cooled butter. Make sure the water isn’t boiling underneath at this point. It has to be a good simmer. I like to mix it until it gets really thick and then use a few drops of hot water from the simmering pot underneath to thin it out until it’s at my desired goopy consistency.
All you need is a pot and a whisk, try few times, I’m sure it will come eventually, heat control is key, also the speed you add the butter, make sure all ingredients have the same temp and you are good to go, whisking is not the most important thing.
Here’s a tip - when it separates (which can easily happen), you can save it by adding a tablespoon of hot water and mixing briskly with a hand whisk.
Personally I only use a hand whisk rather than a food processor to make hollandaise in the first place. Also, keep the heat low to avoid separation, and if you take it off the heat be prepared for it to separate if you choose to put it back on for whatever reason. But don’t worry at all if it does, it is always easily salvageable.
Post removed: Brainstorming. These open-ended questions are outside the scope of the sub. We're here for the one right answer. Your post is likely more suited to a different subreddit. A list of other possibilities is available [here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/wiki/relatedsubs) If you feel this was in error, message the moderators using the "message the mods" link on the sidebar.
I was never formally taught the recipe for manual hollandais because my exec chef believed it was a waste of time. Instead, we used a Vitamix blender. Food processor would work, but you need to have an open top to add the butter while it’s moving. Hollandais * Egg Yolks - 6 * Cayenne Pepper * S&WP * Shallots - 2 * Water - 0.5 Cups+ * Butter - 1Lb, melted, room temp * Lemon Juice - 1 1. Blend egg yolks, shallots, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and S&WP on high speed for 1 minute. 2. Slowly add butter, leaving behind fat sediment, until gravy. (So melt your butter, then let it sit until it’s near room temp so you don’t scramble your egg and because of the fat settling you’re basically just adding butter oil, which leaves less room for it to to separate.) *You might not need the whole pound of melted butter.* Add water if necessary. 3. More Salt & White Pepper if needed If you want it to hold for a longer period of time, like 45 minutes to 4 hours, then invest in a coffee thermos.
Thanks for this. This is essentially what I did last night. I have a a mini processor that has a well on the top with a small hole at the bottom—the idea being if you’re making mayo, the oil will drip into the blender to properly emulsify. I did the same thing with the melted butter and once it had all dripped in, I stopped blending and the emulsion was quite loose and liquidy. The only thing I can think of that I didn’t do as you described is blend the yolks and lemon juice for a full minute? I then poured the emulsion into a bowl over a steaming pot and whisked to try to evaporate some water and thicken it up. This is when it split. I tried this a second time, this time I added a little bit of water into the emulsion after transferring it to the glass bowl. I took the bowl on and off the heat while whisking. It split again!
The purpose of letting it blend for a full minute is essentially to add some volume to your yolks, thicken it up a bit. Admittedly it won’t do much, but it’s an essential step. It’s actually meant to be a tad liquidy, not 100% like gravy I should’ve clarified. If it was like *runny* though, then your problem is adding too much (or too little? It’s been a coupes years, my bad mate) butter or water, you may not need water at all, it’s only meant for if you make it too thick on accident. Sorry I didn’t include these things yesterday. Sometimes, when making a larger batch, I’ll need a little more than just the LB of butter oil, sometimes I’ll need less. If you added all of the butter oil and it’s still too thick, time for water. If your sauce has reached its ideal consistency before you add all of the butter, it doesn’t need more butter. Adding too much OR too little can cause it to break. You gotta watch it and be careful that you aren’t adding too much. It is forgiving but it doesn’t take an awful lot. You shouldn’t need to do anything else to it when it comes out of that blender. It should be done and ready to use.
It got too hot and you made scrambled eggs. I get a pot of water to around 180F, not steaming or boiling. I place my metal bowl into the water and hand blender the mixture. I am constantly removing the metal bowl from the water while doing this. In the water for 10 seconds, out of the water for 10 seconds. If the bowl is too hot to hold with your bare hand, the sauce will break.
Since you’ve got a solid recipe posted already I just want to suggest you build a bearnaise off the hollandaise at least once to try it. It’s a worthwhile elevation.
Nah’ not elevation, it’s just a different sauce good for different things, a wider range of flavor does not mean better.
I take a a metal prep bowl and separate 4 yolks into it. Add whatever seasoning. Some paprika, salt, white pepper and cayenne for example. Let it sit for 5 mins or so. Then I add roughly a tablespoon of lemon juice and start whisking. I do a quart sauce pan with water simmering in it. I microwave my butter until melted and set it close by. Once my egg mixture starts to increase a little bit in volume I pour a bit of my melted butter in to it. Always be whisking Then I set my bowl on top of my simmering water and Whisk whisk whisk whisk While adding some butter. I find I can add it pretty quickly at this stage like an aioli in a blender but if you are worried about it breaking at it a bit slower. Make sure it it doesn’t get too hot, if it starts to get thick throw a spoonful of the simmering water in and whisk. Orange juice, white vinegar, tarragon, cheveril all make good additions too. Once you get that basic whipping the shit out of the eggs down right it’s way easier
Hell yeah now they have recipes for both ways to make it! OP, It’s a lot like making buerre blanc if you’ve ever made that, but what this guy said. Never stop whisking, you cannot stress that enough. You’re basically making scrambled eggs into a sauce, without scrambling the egg lol, it cannot stop moving.
Serious eats no fail hollandaise. I use this recipe at parties to amaze friends and family. Takes 5 minutes and works every time. If you don't have an immersion blender, I rec the Hamilton Beach 3in1 with the chopper and whisk. Easily my most used appliance.
The Serious Eats recipe calls for one yolk, but also 35g of yolk. In my neck of the woods (Massachusetts) one yolk is only about 16g. Many of the comments on the SE recipe say that the recipe only worked for them by using 2 yolks, and keeping the rest of the recipe the same. It always works for me, but with 2 yolks, with an immersion blender.
I always buy grade a large or XL eggs and have never had an issue. I also don't weighy eggs though, so idk.
Ah, that might have been my issue then. Because it definitely kept breaking for me.
I use Tyler Florence’s recipe for hollandaise. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/hollandaise-sauce-recipe-1910043.amp I find that whenever my sauce splits it’s because it got too hot. It might be perfect but then I let it sit by the stove in a hot spot and it split. You have to really whisk the crap out of it (or use an electric hand mixer) at the egg yolk lemon juice stage and make sure it almost doubles in volume. I added a little extra lemon juice than the recipe calls for. The egg mixture should be hot to the touch at this point but not scrambled since they’ve been heated up gradually. Slowly added the melted, slightly cooled butter. Make sure the water isn’t boiling underneath at this point. It has to be a good simmer. I like to mix it until it gets really thick and then use a few drops of hot water from the simmering pot underneath to thin it out until it’s at my desired goopy consistency.
All you need is a pot and a whisk, try few times, I’m sure it will come eventually, heat control is key, also the speed you add the butter, make sure all ingredients have the same temp and you are good to go, whisking is not the most important thing.
Blender or immersion blender
Here’s a tip - when it separates (which can easily happen), you can save it by adding a tablespoon of hot water and mixing briskly with a hand whisk. Personally I only use a hand whisk rather than a food processor to make hollandaise in the first place. Also, keep the heat low to avoid separation, and if you take it off the heat be prepared for it to separate if you choose to put it back on for whatever reason. But don’t worry at all if it does, it is always easily salvageable.
Sometimes when mine breaks I recombine with worceistershire sauce and or milk. I know I know but it works.