Traditional Hollandaise Sauce

Name: Traditional Hollandaise Sauce
Yield: makes 1 1/4 cups
Ingredients: 3 extra-large egg yolks; 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm; 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice; 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; Pinch of cayenne pepper

December 14, 2011

The classic recipe for this very rich sauce goes with everything from meat and fish to eggs and vegetables. It’s usually made in a double boiler, but if you don’t have one, you can improvise. Make a double boiler by putting one saucepan over another slightly larger one and filling the bottom one with an inch or so of water. Make the sauce in the top saucepan and let the water in the bottom pan simmer—it should not touch the sauce—so the sauce will cook slowly. If your sauce still breaks, transfer it to a bowl. Off the heat in the top of the double boiler, whisk another egg yolk. Gradually pour in the curdled sauce in a stream and whisk vigorously until all the broken sauce has been incorporated into the egg yolk. Make the sauce no more than 30 minutes before you plan on serving it. Do not attempt to reheat or it will break.

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