20 MIN · STOVETOP
Hollandaise sauce
Yolks whisked over barely-warm water while butter goes in drop by drop.
Ingredients
- 7 ozunsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 3egg yolks
- 1 tbspwhite wine vinegar
- 1 tbsplemon juice
- 1/2 tspsea salt
- 1 pinchcayenne pepper
Method
- 1
Melt the butter gently and set it aside to cool a little. If you want a cleaner sauce, leave the milky white solids behind in the bottom of the pan when you pour.
- 2
Put the yolks, vinegar and a spoonful of water in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water, and whisk until the mixture is pale, foamy and thick enough to leave a trail.
- 3
Take the bowl off the heat and start adding the warm butter a few drops at a time, whisking constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Only then start pouring in a thin steady stream.
- 4
Whisk in the lemon juice, salt and cayenne, and loosen with a teaspoon of warm water if the sauce is thicker than you want. Keep it somewhere barely warm until serving.
Cook's note
The photo shows the sauce doing its usual job, over poached eggs and smoked salmon. Only the sauce is the recipe — on its own it is vegetarian, and the salmon in the picture is a serving suggestion rather than an ingredient.
Not part of the recipe above — the ingredients, nutrition and dietary labels all describe it as written.