Chef Thomas Keller’s Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

Hollandaise sauce is an egg yolk mixture emulsified with unsalted butter and acid, like fresh lemon juice (or vinegar). Hollandaise is what is known as a French mother sauce, meaning it can be used to make a range of other sauces, including:

• Choron
• Maltaise
• Béarnaise
• Foyot
• Paloise
• Mousseline

Hollandaise may seem like an easy recipe, but it takes a lot of patience and practice to master. Practice this hollandaise sauce technique until you can execute it with confidence.

In a restaurant, hollandaise is best made in a saucier over a graduated-heat flat top, but at home it is best to use a double boiler. (This is also how Chef Keller learned the first time.) Home stove tops do not work well at a low heat setting, so a double boiler helps spread the heat evenly across the bottom of the pan, especially small saucepans without a heavy bottom.

Hollandaise sauce is perhaps most famously used to top a brunch classic, the Eggs Benedict. But there are a variety of ways you can use hollandaise to take your cooking to the next level. Drape vegetables with the traditional version of hollandaise, or build upon the mother sauce to create more layered versions. For example, if you swap white wine vinegar for the lemon juice, whisk in finely minced shallot, and add a handful of herbs like tarragon, you’ll have a béarnaise that works particularly well over steak, seafood, or eggs.

Try serving each your hollandaise or béarnaise sauce with one of these suggested dishes:

• Hollandaise on blanched asparagus
• Béarnaise in eggs benedict
• Béarnaise mousseline with steak and brussels sprouts

Learn Chef Keller’s method for making Hollandaise sauce below.

1. Fill a saucepot with approximately 1 inch of water and bring to a gentle simmer.

2. Separate out 3 large egg yolks and add them to the mixing bowl. Whisk in 25 grams of water to start (you may need to add more to maintain the emulsion).

3. Then place the mixing bowl over the saucepot. Continue to whisk egg mixture in a figure-eight motion, rotating the bowl and removing from the heat as needed, aiming for constant, gentle heat. (Chef Keller’s double-boiler process takes about 2 ½ minutes. Look for cooked egg yolks. They should thicken and have a fluffy, ribbon consistency with a pale yellow appearance. If it is overcooked there will be little bits of egg that can be removed with a strainer.)

4. Remove from heat and place the mixing bowl in a turban on the cutting board.

5. While continuing to whisk, add juice of half a lemon and slowly drizzle in the warmed clarified butter.

6. As with the process for mayonnaise, continue to add water and fat, and, for hollandaise, heat as needed to continue the emulsification process. As you reach a consistency you like, taste and season with additional lemon and salt.

7. Set 2 poached eggs on top of toast and slowly spoon the hollandaise so that it envelopes each poached egg. Complete with a few grinds of black pepper and a sprinkle of finishing salt.

While making hollandaise, you may find that your smooth sauce “breaks,” separating into its liquid and fat components. Emulsified sauces can break for a variety of reasons, including:

• Applying too much heat
• Adding ingredients too quickly
• Not using enough water

If your sauce breaks, don’t worry: it can be restored. To fix a broken sauce, return it to heat to completely break it, making the yolks look like curd. Warm a little bit of egg yolk in a separate bowl, then slowly drizzle the broken hollandaise in while whisking. Your sauce should return to a stable, creamy emulsion.