Bearnaise sauce

[Harbinger]

Tried bearnaise sauce for the first time tonight. I think I've had it on fish before maybe, but I actually ordered a side of it to put on a bland yet perfectly cooked steak. That stuff is really good! The egg is definitely a presence, but not overpowering at all. It was actually really good on the baked potato. I was at a place in El Paso, just the first non corporate steakhouse we saw. The salad bar was amazing. My buddy's prime rib was good. My ribeye was way too lightly seasoned. I actually left about a third of it. And I only ate more than half because of the delightful bearnaise sauce which was much better on my potato. Gotta learn how to make that stuff and put it on a bland yet healthy fish.

[Vader]

Béarnaise (a variety of hollandaise) is sublime. I love tarragon anyway and it's the best friend of steak with haricots wrapped in bacon ...

Works also a treat with eggs benedict.

[Menolly]

Vader, do you have a "foolproof" recipe for bernaise? I'm fairly adapt at blender hollandaise (Jeff Smith's recipe, with extra lemon juice), but so far, bernaise eludes me...

I think Lucimay made some bernaise for herself at Denver Seafest. Whatever it was, it smelled awesome.

[Vader]

Sorry, no fool proof recipe since it is THE sauce ...

That's how I do it:

for ¾ liter/ 25oz sauce
· 1 shalott
· fresh tarragon
· 4 black peppercorns
· 50 ml / 1.7oz dry white wine
· 125 ml / 4oz chicken stock
· 125 g butter
· 3 medium sized egg yolks
· salt
· 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Peal the shalott and cut into small cubes. Put into a small pot together with the peppercorns, white wine, stems of tarragon and 5 Tbs chicken stock and let reduce almost completely. Add the remaining stock and strain through a sieve catching the liquid in a bowl.

Let the butter melt and gently cook until it foams and most of the water in the butter has evaporated.

Whip eggyolk and the liquid from the wine/shallott reduction in a double boiler (bain-marie) until it gets foamy.

Take off the heat and let the liquid butter run into it first drop by drop than in a small stream, constantly whipping it until it starts to thicken.

Flavour with salt and lemon juice. Add freshly chopped tarragon.

[Menolly]

Sorry, no fool proof recipe since it is THE sauce ...

...
I was afraid of that.

I'll give it a try.
...one day when I'm brave.

[Menolly]

Well...
I really like the blender hollandaise sauce I make, so I had the husband of a friend who just started a recipe blog search out a blender bernaise. I am positive it will not even begin to compare to Vader's, but I'll give this a try first (if I can track down champagne vinegar) to see how well bernaise will go over with everyone here.

10-Minute Blender Bearnaise Sauce Recipe

2 TBS champagne vinegar
2 TBS dry white wine
1 small shallot, minced
2 sprigs tarragon leaves, minced
3/4 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
2 large egg yolks
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Combine vinegar, wine, shallot, half the tarragon, 1/4 tsp salt, and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly.

In a blender, combine eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, and cooled shallot-wine mixture and blend for 30 seconds.

With the blender on, add the melted butter in a slow stream. It should take you about 30 seconds to add all the butter.

Add the other half of the tarragon leaves and blend for another few seconds.

Move to a small pitcher and serve with steaks.

[Earthfriend]

I know I'm going to regret this, but....

Blender Bernaise and Hollandaise?!

And if that wasn't bad enough - I mean, what finally tipped me over the edge...on Monday, a man ordered powdered Bernaise sauce through my work; just add hot water.

Still, it does take some time to learn, so if the blender product tastes similar I suppose there's nothing wrong with it. *sigh.

[DukkhaWaynhim]

Its no different than the gulf between instant hot cocoa mix constituted with water, and hot chocolate made from nothing but cream, sugar, salt, dark chocolate squares, and a vanilla bean.

I like both. One is science - the other is art. Both are great to study.

dw

[Menolly]

Its no different than the gulf between instant hot cocoa mix constituted with water, and hot chocolate made from nothing but cream, sugar, salt, dark chocolate squares, and a vanilla bean.

I like both. One is science - the other is art. Both are great to study.

hmm.

I can't quite agree with that analogy, dw.
I despise instant hot cocoa when reconstituted with water; barely acceptable when added to warmed milk. Even hot cocoa made from dark chocolate squares, I dunno. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa with all of the above, or Mexican chocolate squares for a different animal of hot cocoa, is what works for me.

But the blender hollandaise, at least to my taste buds, works. My palate is probably not discerning enough to really appreciate the voluptuousness of the classically made hollandaise. And as I said, I haven't tried the blender bernaise yet...

[Vader]

If it works for the hollandaise I see no reason why it wouldn't work for the béarnaise as the latter just is a variation of the first.

[Menolly]

Still, it does take some time to learn, so if the blender product tastes similar I suppose there's nothing wrong with it. *sigh.

I do think a home cook, especially one who may not start really cooking for themselves until they are beginning a family of their own (sad to say), may not have the time, patience, or perhaps even the budget to self learn and discard failed attempts. I do hope one day to attend real cooking classes, but for now, what I get comes from cook books, the internet, and the PBS cooking shows, now that we no longer get Food Network.

Just in case you ever want to give the hollandaise a whirl, Earthy. I think it is the method more than the ingredients, so you could try it with your own list. But, I think this is very tasty...

Blender Hollandaise Sauce
Jeff Smith ~ "The Frugal Gourmet"

4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard -- I use Coleman's
1 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice - juice from about 1/2 lemon – I use the juice of a whole lemon
1 shot tobasco -- see Notes below
1/4 lb unsalted butter (one stick)

Melt the stick of butter in a sauce pan, and keep warm. Into the blender place the yolks, salt, mustard, lemon juice, and Tobasco. Blend for three seconds. Heat the melted butter until it just starts to sputter, but not burn. Turn the blender back on, and while the blender is going, slowly pour in the hot butter. The temperature of the butter is the secret: It must be very hot, and the hollandaise will thicken immediately. To make a smoother, silkier sauce, use only the clarified portion of the melted butter, carefully pouring and leaving the white milk solids in the sauce pan.

The texture should be that of a thick sauce. If your sauce is more of a custard, or if it resembles curdled milk, then you added the butter too quickly.

Serve on vegetables, poached eggs, or meats, potatoes, spouses...

Notes :
A "shot" of Tobasco, means one squirt from the bottle.
Twist the lemon peel to get some of the lemon oil in the fresh squeezed lemon juice.

[Vader]

As I see taste-wise there is nothing really wrong with it. The only reason to use a double cooker is to avoid the egg yolks from turning into scrambled eggs. If the blender has the same effect, it's all fine.

The mustard seems to replace the white wine/vinegar reduction - you could argue if this is legitimate but if the msutard is not too hot (and of good quality, without flavor enhancers and stuff) it might work. Wouldn't use tabasco though.

The only critical point I see is that the egg yolks only get heat from the hot butter (lacking the process of double cooking it). Frankly, I had salmonella infection once (and subsequently fun for 4 weeks on various toilets) - I'd only do this if I were 100% sure about the quality and freshness of the eggs.

[Menolly]

This is why the butter is brought back up to temperature so it is popping hot before starting to turn brown. But yes, the hot butter is all that "cooks" the yolks.