A Cook’s Education (The Food Lab): Foolproof Hollandaise Sauce
A Cook’s Education (The Food Lab): Foolproof Hollandaise Sauce
by Razumikhinisbae
1 Comment
Razumikhinisbae
I have a confession. Until a couple weeks ago, I had never had hollandaise sauce before. What can I say? In brunch situations I just always gravitated toward waffles or hash. But since I knew that hollandaise and eggs benedict were coming up in my cook through of the Food Lab, I wanted to have some frame of reference. Two weeks ago, I took my daughter out to a diner with high hopes. Unfortunately, the only eggs benedict they had there was an alternative version that utilized a cheddar biscuit instead of an english muffin. At this point, we had already sat down and I was NOT dragging my three year old to another restaurant. It was a bit of a bummer. The biscuit and the ham were so strongly flavored that the hollandaise was completely overwhelmed and tasted like nothing at all. I left still feeling like I had no idea what I was supposed to accomplish.
Despite this, I feel pretty good about my first attempt. I used the immersion blender method and as far as I can tell, I didn’t break the sauce. It was warm and rich and creamy and lemony and really set off the asparagus. I might leave it off the steelhead trout next time as I find I like to let fish speak for itself, but it was still really tasty. The only thing that I’m a little unhappy with is the bubbles. As far as that goes, I think I let the immersion blender up too high and brought in a little too much air.
Next Sunday, I’m putting together my newfound knowledge of poached eggs and hollandaise sauce to make eggs benedict. I think it’ll be something special.
Background: Who am I? I am an amateur, a home cook. In general I am only responsible for feeding myself, my three year old, and my husband. Cooking, perusing cookbooks, and watching cooking shows is how I unwind.
What am I doing? I have decided to cook through the Food Lab as a way to get back to basics and work my way through the fundamentals and blindspots in my cooking abilities.
1 Comment
I have a confession. Until a couple weeks ago, I had never had hollandaise sauce before. What can I say? In brunch situations I just always gravitated toward waffles or hash. But since I knew that hollandaise and eggs benedict were coming up in my cook through of the Food Lab, I wanted to have some frame of reference. Two weeks ago, I took my daughter out to a diner with high hopes. Unfortunately, the only eggs benedict they had there was an alternative version that utilized a cheddar biscuit instead of an english muffin. At this point, we had already sat down and I was NOT dragging my three year old to another restaurant. It was a bit of a bummer. The biscuit and the ham were so strongly flavored that the hollandaise was completely overwhelmed and tasted like nothing at all. I left still feeling like I had no idea what I was supposed to accomplish.
Despite this, I feel pretty good about my first attempt. I used the immersion blender method and as far as I can tell, I didn’t break the sauce. It was warm and rich and creamy and lemony and really set off the asparagus. I might leave it off the steelhead trout next time as I find I like to let fish speak for itself, but it was still really tasty. The only thing that I’m a little unhappy with is the bubbles. As far as that goes, I think I let the immersion blender up too high and brought in a little too much air.
Next Sunday, I’m putting together my newfound knowledge of poached eggs and hollandaise sauce to make eggs benedict. I think it’ll be something special.
Background: Who am I? I am an amateur, a home cook. In general I am only responsible for feeding myself, my three year old, and my husband. Cooking, perusing cookbooks, and watching cooking shows is how I unwind.
What am I doing? I have decided to cook through the Food Lab as a way to get back to basics and work my way through the fundamentals and blindspots in my cooking abilities.