Hollandaise Sauce

I often shied away from making Hollandaise Sauce. After all, I kept hearing about how it 'breaks' easy and that it often doesn't work out and then you have to try again from the beginning. So I often used a package mix when it came to Hollandaise, it seemed delicious and was very easy to put together. No chance of breaking either.

One day I started some chicken and rice to suddenly discover there wasn't a package of Hollandaise handy. I did have plenty of butter, lemon juice, and farm fresh eggs on hand, but no Hollandaise mix. Out came the cookbooks, and in Get Saucy by Grace Parisi, I found a recipe to try.  The big key about Hollandaise sauce is heat. the temperature needs to be low enough so the eggs don't cook solid, but you still need to cook the eggs with the butter. I used a double boiler and was very cautious about the heat.

All the effort was well worth it. This Hollandaise sauce recipe is extremely rich, unlike a package mix.

Ingredients
2 extra large egg yolks (mine were smaller so I used three)
1 Tablespoon cold water
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (1 & 1/2 sticks) of  cold unsalted butter cut into 1 inch cubes
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice.
Cayenne pepper

Use a double boiler  or a steel bowl over a pan. Put 2 inches of water in the bottom pan and bring to a simmer. A simmer means the water hasn't boiled yet, but is almost hot enough to boil. Keep the water just below a boil for this whole process.

Put the egg yolks, water, salt in the top pan and whisk until it is warm to the touch.  Add a few (I used four) cubes of the butter, and whisk until the butter is almost completely integrated. Whisking constantly, continue to add a few pieces of the butter at a time, each time waiting until all the butter is added before adding more.   As you add the butter, this should be getting slightly thicker. If not, your heat might need to be a touch hotter. Whisk in the lemon juice. Then add cayenne pepper to taste.  Transfer this whole thing to a pitcher (I used a gravy boat) and serve immediately. If  you need to wait, keep warm by putting the pitcher into simmering water. If it gets too thick, thin with a tablespoon of simmering water.