Hollandaise sauce ( or ; French: [Ê"É".lÉ'̃.dÉ›z]), also referred to as Dutch sauce, is an emulsion of egg yolk, liquid butter, water and lemon juice (or a white wine or vinegar reduction), whisked together over the low heat of a double boiler. Additional salt, white pepper and/or cayenne pepper is used for seasoning.
Hollandaise is one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire. These types of sauces are considered "mayonnaise sauces" as they are, like mayonnaise, based on the emulsion of an oil in egg yolk. Hollandaise sauce is well known as a key ingredient of Eggs Benedict, and is often paired with vegetables such as steamed asparagus.
Origins
Sauce Hollandaise translates from French as "Dutch sauce". The recipe for Dutch sauce would appear to be a classic Hollandaise. However, there seems to be little explanation as to why it was so named. From the name, Hollandaise sauce would imply Dutch origins. However, like many dishes, there are connections to the French Huguenots who were forced out of France in the late 17th century, but eventually returned from the various countries to which they had fled. Huguenots, returning from Holland, are said to have brought the recipe back to France that they had developed abroad. The first documented mention of a recipe is from 1651 in François Pierre La Varenne's Le Cuisinier François for "asparagus with fragrant sauce".;
"make a sauce with some good fresh butter, a little vinegar, salt, and nutmeg, and an egg yolk to bind the sauce; take care that it doesn't curdle"
La Varenne is credited with bringing sauces out of the Middle ages with his publication and may well have invented hollandaise sauce. The French developed Isigny sauce, very similar to hollandaise, and named after the Norman town of Isigny-sur-Mer which produces the finest French butter. Isigny sauce is found in recipe books from the 19th century. However, the story that the sauce began to be called Hollandaise after WWI, when butter shortages forced imports from Holland, is clearly inaccurate. While the Norman butter helped the sauce reach a higher status, it actually dates back to when the Dutch sold butter and cheese to Europe from cattle grazed on reclaimed sea land.
By the 19th century, sauces had been classified into four distinct categories by Chef Marie-Antoine Carême. One of Carême's family of sauces was allemande, which was a stock-based sauce using egg and lemon juice. Auguste Escoffier updated that list in the early 20th century by replacing allemande with Hollandaise sauce as part of his family of five mother sauces of Haute cuisine. While many believe that a true Hollandaise sauce should only contain the basic ingredients of eggs, butter and lemon, Prosper Montagne suggested using either a white wine or vinegar reduction, similar to a Béarnaise sauce, to help improve the taste.
Preparation and handling
Egg emulsion sauces include mayonnaise, Hollandaise and Béarnaise. For hollandaise sauce, egg yolks and water, lemon juice or vinegar are emulsified. Unlike custard, the egg does not coagulate. An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable). Droplets of the butter become suspended in the water and lemon juice once emulsion occurs. While emulsions can be either stable or unstable, hollandaise is made stable by the addition of eggs which contain lecithin, combining with the oil and water, holding it together.
To make hollandaise sauce, the eggs yolks are separated and added to a butter base with small amounts of water, vinegar or lemon juice with pepper, heated together slowly over a double boiler. A stainless steel bowl over a sauce pan with a small amount of water may also be used. The water should not touch the bowl or boil, just simmer. The key to the recipe is to heat the ingredients without curdling the egg. Add the egg and liquid ingredients first and whisk together with a wire whisk until frothy. Add the egg and liquid froth to the double boiler of the simmering water and whisk quickly and continuously. The mixture will expand a few times. Remove from the heat source and begin adding warm, melted, clarified butter to the mixture. If the sauce cools too much the butter will begin to thicken. If this or separation begins to occur, a few drops of hot water can solve this issue.
Food hygiene is important, as is heating foods for proper safety. However, hollandaise sauce spoils at high temperatures. It is also important to remember that foods made with raw egg become susceptible to microbial growth if left at temperatures between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit(4.4 to 60 Celsius) for too long, increasing the danger of food-borne illnesses. Eggs are "A food of public health concern" because they can easily be contaminated with salmonella which can cause food poisoning. Along with a number of other sauces, hollandaise can be frozen in small single serving amounts.
Ingredients and recipes
Basic ingredients for the sauce are;
- White peppercorns (white pepper)
- Vinegar
- Water
- Butter
- Egg yolks
- Salt
- Lemon juice
- Cayenne pepper
The Book of Sauces, published in 1915, has both Hollandaise Sauce and Dutch Sauce above a list of 5 numbered variations.
- Hollandaise Sauce (Dutch Sauce)
-
- In a sauce pan combine 12 crushed peppercorns with two tablespoons of French wine vinegar and 4 tablespoons of water. Boil fast and reduce by half. Whisk in 4 egg yolks and following that, add in 4 to 6 ounces of fresh butter a by degrees (little at a time), then adding a gill of water. Season with salt and the juice of one lemon. Pass the sauce through a tammy cloth and return to a clean sauce pan and leave standing in a pan of hot (not boiling) water until time to serve.
Derivatives
Being a mother sauce, hollandaise sauce is the foundation for many derivatives created by adding or changing ingredients. The following is a non-exhaustive listing of such minor sauces.
- The most common derivative is Sauce Béarnaise. It can be produced by replacing the acidifying agent (vinegar reduction or lemon juice) in a preparation with a strained reduction of vinegar, shallots, fresh chervil, fresh tarragon and (if to taste) crushed peppercorns. Alternatively, the flavorings may be added to a standard hollandaise. Béarnaise and its children are often used on steak or other "assertive" grilled meats and fish.
- Sauce Choron is a variation of béarnaise without tarragon or chervil, plus added tomato purée.
- Sauce Foyot (a.k.a. Valois) is béarnaise with meat glaze (Glace de Viande) added.
- Sauce Colbert is Sauce Foyot with the addition of reduced white wine.
- Sauce Paloise is a version of béarnaise with mint substituted for tarragon.
- Sauce au Vin Blanc (for fish) is produced by adding a reduction of white wine and fish stock to hollandaise.
- Sauce Bavaroise is hollandaise with added cream, horseradish, and thyme.
- Sauce Crème Fleurette is hollandaise with crème fraîche added.
- Sauce Dijon, also known as Sauce Moutarde or Sauce Girondine, is hollandaise with Dijon mustard.
- Sauce Maltaise is hollandaise to which blanched orange zest and the juice of blood orange is added.
- Sauce Mousseline, also known as Sauce Chantilly, is produced by folding whipped cream into hollandaise.
- If reduced sherry is first folded into the whipped cream, the result is Sauce Divine.
- Madame Benoît's recipe for Mousseline uses whipped egg whites instead of whipped cream.
- Sauce Noisette is a hollandaise variation made with browned butter (beurre noisette).
Notes
Citations
References
- Alléno, Yannick; Brenot, Vincent (2014), Sauces reflexions of a chef, Hachette Pratique , ISBN 9780231153454, OCLC 963884550Â
- Ayto, John (2012), The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink, Oxford University Press, ISBNÂ 978-0199640249, OCLCÂ 838403798Â
- Binney, Ruth (2008), Wise Words and Country Ways for Cooks, David & Charles, ISBNÂ 9780715334225, OCLCÂ 774717592Â
- Gilbar, Steven (2008), Chicken A La King And The Buffalo Wing: Food Names And The People And Places That Inspired Them, Writer's Digest Books, ISBNÂ 978-1582975252, OCLCÂ 213466543Â
- Jack, Albert (2011), What Caesar Did for My Salad: The Curious Stories Behind Our Favorite Foods, TarcherPerigee, ISBNÂ 9780399536908, OCLCÂ 706017154Â
- Mendelson, Anne (2013), Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages, Knopf, ISBNÂ 9781400044108, OCLCÂ 212855063Â
- Ruhlman, Michael (2009), The Making of a Chef: Mastering Heat at the Culinary Institute of America, Holt Paperbacks, OCLCÂ 37331691Â
- Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (2004), Encyclopedia of Kitchen History, Fitzroy Dearborn, ISBNÂ 9781579583804, OCLCÂ 56104141Â
- Tebben, Marryann (2015), Sauces: A Global History, Reaktion Books9780805061734, ISBNÂ 978-1780233512, OCLCÂ 870663896Â
External links
- Mrs. Beeton, The book of household Management, 1861: Project Gutenberg e-text
- History of Sauces
- History of Hollandaise
- How To Make Hollandaise Sauce Step-by-step tutorial from About.com (generally good, but a glass or ceramic bowl is not recommended as they make it too difficult to control the heat)
- Free Culinary School Podcast Episode 8 A podcast (audio) episode that talks about the proper classical technique for making Hollandaise and the science behind the method.
- Ina Garten's Blender Hollandaise