valentine's day recipe:

hollandaise (traditional/classical)

ingredients

clarified butter	200		gm/ml
egg yolks	2		pc
vinegar	30		ml
peppercorns (crushed)	5		pc
unsalted butter			sq

production

1. Melt the butter and hold it at blood temperature
2. In a saucepan combine the vinegar and peppercorns. Bring the mixture to boil and reduce by half the original volume.
3. Transfer this reduction to a stainless steel bowl (aluminium may tint the colour of the hollandaise).
4. Add a little water and the yolks and whisk to combine.
5. Whisk over a bain marie, until it increases in volume, slightly thickens and forms ribbons when dropped onto itself. Remove pan from heat and continue stirring to cool the mixture. (If the heat is too high curds will form, overcooking the yolks.)
6. To incorporate the butter hold the pot steady using a tea towel and gradually whisk the warm melted butter into the yolk mixture (the milk solids should remain in the bottom).
7. If the sauce becomes thick while adding the butter, whisk in few drops of hot water to thin to the right consistency. (the sauce should change from being shiny to flat in colour.)
8. Hold finished sauce over a warm bain marie
9. Adjust seasoning of the sauce as desired. The finished sauce should be light and not too thick and it should coat evenly and hold.

chef notes:

This temporary emulsion sauce is formed when one substance is
suspended in another. It is fragile because it is not a true mixture and could "break," or separate into its distinct ingredients (known as curdling). It begins by producing a 'sabayon'.

Great care must be taken when making hollandaise as it can curdle or split very easily, it is a sauce derived from the process of emulsion and coagulation. Therefore if the butter is added to quickly or is too hot, the albumen in the egg will harden, shrink and separate from the liquid.

Should this happen:

• place a tablespoon of boiling water in a clean bow
• gradually whisk in the curdled sauce.

If this fails:

• put a fresh yolk in a bowl with a teaspoon of water and remake a sabayon
• gradually whisk in the curdled sauce

email chef@tallyrand.info