Mock Hollandaise Sauce I
Hollandaise sauce is a warm emulsion of clarified butter and lemon juice using egg yolk to bind them. This recipe is not exactly Hollandaise but tastes exactly the same and almost never fails. This recipe also does not require a double boiler which is often a handicap in preparing Hollandaise.
1½ sticks butter (170 g or ¾ cup), cut into small pieces
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp parsley
Heat the butter until it melts, taking care not to burn the butter. Once melted, allow to cool until solids appear on the top.
Skim off the milk solids, and keep the clarified butter warm/liquid (in a hot cup will do fine).
Put egg yolks, lemon juice, water, salt and cayenne pepper into a non-reactive saucepan, and beat until smooth.
Heat over very low heat, beating constantly with a whisk. If the egg starts to solidify, remove from heat, and do not stop whisking.
When the whisk forms streaks in the bottom of the pan (around 8 minutes), add clarified butter, one teaspoon at a time to begin with, adding more as it combines. Adding the butter too quickly will make the sauce split, and you will have to start over. The sauce should thicken as butter is added—when it is the desired thickness, remove from the heat.
8 minutes
Add optional parsley and serve.
- •Never use aluminium tools. Aluminium will react with the acid in the lemon juice, discoloring the sauce and giving it an unpleasant taste,
- •If any indication of burning is evident, remove pan from heat and whisk rapidly. If that is not enough, dunk the pan into cold water.
- •Using clarified butter will allow for a better (easier) emulsion, although much of the flavour in butter comes from those milk solids not found in clarified butter.
- •For a more traditional recipe, whisk the egg yolks over a double boiler in which the water is hot rather than boiling (i.e., start off simmering, do it off the heat). Add the butter one piece at a time, making sure each piece is fully incorporated into the sauce before adding the next. Finish off by adding lemon juice.