Hollandaise: warm, not hot
Hollandaise is butter whisked into yolks and lemon juice. Lecithin in the yolk coats tiny butter droplets and holds them in the sauce. Keep it at 60 to 65°C (140 to 150°F). Above 70°C (158°F) the yolks scramble. Too cool and it won't blend.
Fix a split sauce
If hollandaise splits, put a fresh yolk and a teaspoon of warm water in a clean bowl. Whisk the broken sauce into it a little at a time. The new yolk coats the separated fat and rebuilds the emulsion.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
Hollandaise holds a lot of melted butter in a smooth sauce. What holds it together?
Lecithin, a compound in the egg yolks. Lecithin coats the butter droplets and keeps them suspended.
True or false: Adding the butter in a thin stream, a few drops at first, helps hollandaise stay smooth.
True. Each small addition of butter gets coated by yolk before the next one arrives.
What went wrong? You set hollandaise directly on a hot burner. It turns into bits of scrambled egg.
Direct heat scrambled the yolks. Use a bowl over warm water and whisk constantly so the yolks never get too hot.
Fill the blank: Hollandaise yolks scramble by about ___, so the sauce must stay below that.
Hollandaise yolks scramble by about 70°C (158°F), so the sauce must stay below that. Yolks set between about 65°C and 70°C, so the sauce must stay below it.
The hollandaise has to wait 20 minutes before serving. Where do you keep it?
In a bowl over warm water at about 60°C (140°F). It stays fluid and above the danger zone without cooking the yolks.