Béarnaise Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
3 egg yokes
1 1/2 sticks (6 ozs.) clarified butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon tarragon, chopped
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, crushed
2 fl. oz. white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon tarragon, chopped for garnish
Water as needed
Place vinegar, black peppercorns, tarragon and shallots in a small sauce pan
and boil reducing down to about 2 tablespoons. Remove from heat and
strain mixture through a sieve into a metal bowl that will fit your double
boiler and allow to cool down a couple minutes. Add egg yokes to the
vinegar mixture and using a double boiler, whisk the egg mixture until
fluffy and continue whisking until the mixture thickens. Once mixture
has thickened, remove from the double boiler and add a small amount of the
clarified butter and whisk until thoroughly incorporated and continue adding
the clarified butter and whish until all the clarified butter is
incorporated. If the sauce is too thick add a few drops of water to
thin it as needed while adding and whisking in the clarified butter.
When all the clarified butter is incorporated into the egg mixture, add one
tablespoon of tarragon and season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
Place in a serving dish and serve while still hot. This sauce is great
with chicken and steak.
Bill aka Mickey Porter 03-28-09.
The following is transcribed
from, Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices by
George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter, Herter's, Waseca, Minnesota
Fifteenth Edition 1970, pages 161-162, now out of print describes some
historical information concerning the béarnaise sauce recipe as follows:
"This was invented by Chef Jules Colette from Bearn, France. He worked
at the restaurant Pavillon Henri V at Saint-German-en-Laye in Paris, France
for a time. He had, however, perfected the recipe long before he came
to work at this restaurant. Every chef at the restaurant tried to
claim the recipe as his own.
Béarnaise sauce is best served on hamburgers. Cover both sides of
the hamburger bun heavily with Béarnaise Sauce. Put lettuce on the
hamburger and tomato, and dill pickle slices on it too if you like them.
The Béarnaise sauce makes a hamburger a fabulously different dish. In
France, Béarnaise Sauce is served with roast beef or with such fish as
halibut. You dip your pieces of roast beef into the Béarnaise Sauce
instead of in gravy. It is really good and a welcome change every so
often for anyone.
Served with fish instead of tartar sauce, Béarnaise
Sauce is very good. It is excellent with fried fish or with cold fish
like salmon or tuna. It makes a wonderful cracker dip. Every
good cook should be able to make a good Béarnaise Sauce. Here is
the original recipe.
Take a small saucepan or frying pan. Put into
it one level teaspoon of grated green onions or shallots or one level
teaspoon of onion powder, one-fourth teaspoon of white pepper, one level
teaspoon of salt, two level teaspoons of dried tarragon leaves, rub the
leaves well before adding them and remove any stem pieces, two drops of
anise and four level tablespoons of vinegar. Heat over a low flame
until about one-third of the vinegar goes off in steam. Stir well
while this is going on, the remove the pan from the heat and let cool a
little. Take five egg yolks and beat them together well in a bowl with
a fork. Add the five beaten egg yolks gradually to the mixture in the
pan, stirring constantly and vigorously. Put the pan back on the stove
over a very low fire and gradually add about six ounces of melted butter,
stirring it in well. Do not let the sauce more than simmer. Be
sure that the butter is just liquid and warm, not too hot as it is added.
Stir the butter in well until the sauce is as thick as heavy cream.
The egg yolks cooking, cause the sauce to thicken. Remove the sauce
just as soon as it thickens well and let it cool slightly. Serve it
just slightly warm or even cold, never serve it hot."
Pix below of
the Béarnaise sauce prepared on 04-11-09:
A few sequence pixs taken, however I got in a hurry and did not set up the
ingredients pix:
Bill aka Mickey Porter 04-11-09.
