Recipe: Hollandaise Sauce

Hollandaise is one of the 5 basic sauces in cooking, the others being Bechamel, Veloute, Brown, and Tomato. It is known as being very hard to get right, requiring a lot of patience and a sauce that absolutely cannot be rushed, but by G-d if you get it right, it's culinary perfection. My mother teaching me to make Hollandaise is one of my earliest memories. My Grammy taught her when she was a girl. Grammy's recipe is by far the best I have ever tasted, better even than any restaurant I've been to. Despite its rumored difficulty, I have managed to perfect my Grammy's recipe into a next to fool proof one. 9 times out of 10 it comes out perfectly and is amazing on Fish, Asparagus, Broccoli, Artichokes, Steamed Potatoes, Eggs Benedict, as a sandwich spread, on a spoon....

Ingredients:

Lemon- 1 whole large Lemon's worth of juice

Butter or Margarine- 1 stick (use either real butter or margarine, olive oil spread or Good Start imitation butter DOES NOT WORK!!!)

Egg Yolks- 3 large yolks (I find the best way to separate an egg is to crack it directly into your hand and let the whites slide through your fingers. Once separated make sure to beat the yolks before adding)

Salt- pinch or so to taste

Also need:

Sauce pan

Whisk

To Prepare:

Now firstly I will say alot of people will tell you you have to use a double broiler (which is basically a saucepan filled with water with a metal bowl floating in it) to make Hollandaise. You can do this if you feel more comfortable. I have in the past, my Mom and Grammy both did, but I do not have metal bowls now so I have learned to make it using only a small non stick sauce pan. They key is VERY VERY LOW HEAT. First set the saucepan on the burner with the stick of Butter or Margarine in it. I like to slice the Butter/Margarine so that it melts faster/more evenly. You want to melt it just to the point that there is no longer any solid but not to the point that it has gone clear. It should still be milky colored. Add Lemon juice and a touch of salt and whisk together. It should taste basically like lemon butter but a nice balance of both, if one or the other is over powering, add a bit more of the one that tastes less. Next add the beaten egg yolk. If I am using the Hollendaise as a dipping sauce, say for Artichokes or something and want a thicker consistancy, I sometimes add an extra yolk, but for a pouring sauce, 3 is fine. Now, in my family there is a running joke that you must first "Emulsify the eggs". This started one Thanksgiving when I was about 8 and I was at the stove making Hollandaise. My aunt (Mom's sister so therefore also trained by my Grammy) was over helping prepare dinner and as I poured the egg into the lemon butter mixture she ran SCREAMING across the kitchen and snatched it out of my hands. I of course was in shock and was like "what did I do??" She replied that I "didn't Emulsify the eggs" and had therefore ruined the Hollandaise. I had no idea what she was talking about as I had never done anything like that before and was subsequently crushed. Emulsifying the eggs apparently means adding a bit of the liquid Butter/Margarine and Lemon mixture to the egg and mixing vigorously BEFORE pouring it into the rest of the Lemmon Butter mixture instead of just pouring the egg straight into the pan and stirring like mad. I have made probably a hundred or so batches of Hollandaise since then and have never once emulsified my eggs and no one has died yet soooo.... Never the less, whenever I am cooking it with my Mom, one or the other of us always remarks on the fact that we forgot to emulsify the eggs. ANYWAYS. Add the beaten egg yolk to the Lemon Butter and whisk vigorously for several minutes over VERY LOW heat. DO NOT be tempted to turn the heat up. As the mixture warms it will begin to thicken. Again, DO NOT turn up the heat in attempts to make it thicken faster. This will cause the egg to cook to quickly and for everything to separate. You will know when it has separated because it no longer is this beautiful yellow custard, it will instead get little grains where the egg has pulled out and the butter will also pull away again. There is no turning back from there, you have to throw everything out and start over. Don't worry if it separates on you the first time, it happens to the best of us. Just grab another Lemon and start over. Once the sauce is thickened to your desired consistency, remove from heat and serve. This is best when it is served immediately so it pretty much needs to be made right before you go to the table, or as close to it as possible. It does not reheat well as it tends to separate when it is reheated. I always use leftovers as a cold sandwich spread, Hello Day after Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwiches!! So quick recap, LOW LOW heat, stir like crazy, and have a little patience. That's the secret, there you go:)