I mean, what's not to love. They're emulsifications of butter and egg yolk. So delicious.
I really should experiment with my own concoctions. I mean hollandaise and béarnaise are perfect creations of deliciousness... but one of my absolute favourite things to do in the kitchen is to take the tried and tested through more trials and tests. :)
I'm thinking something like garlic and shallot with fresh parsley... Oooo, or even something like a minced cashew and mint...
The possibilities are endless. I mean the tricky part is getting the egg yolk and butter to blend smoothly and thickly over heat, but once that is done, you could really add a vast number of different flavours to your sauce.
It is actually fairly surprising that there aren't more egg and butter based sauces out there in the world.
Anyway... I expect I'll do that someday.
For today, though, I wanted to talk about Hollandaise.
Of course the texture is gorgeous. Soft, velvety, and smooth. But the flavours --- of a GOOD hollandaise, that is --- so unique and deftly contrasting. Nothing compares to a professionally made hollandaise, with the tang of fresh lemon complementing the bright and sharp spiciness of white peppercorns.
Anyway, this post isn't about how to make hollandaise. I think I've covered that before. Sort of... you can check out this post featuring a lower-fat version of hollandaise:
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But for today, this is just about how I love taking one really awesome component and incorporating it into everything for an entire dish.
All you need is a bunch of elements which you know will go well with the same one additive. I think we've all had eggs with hollandaise. Steak with hollandaise. Mixed greens with hollandaise. Asparagus with hollandaise is particularly common.
So, in order to smother an entire plate in hollandaise, I chose from these. Steak, greens, and asparagus.
It might seem really unhealthy, but really that's a lot of good healthy things on that plate... you just might need to look underneath the copious amount of egg butter sauce.
:)
The steak thing was actually new for me, I don't think I've ever just put a piece of steak down like that... I was planning on using eggs, but I ran out, AND I had the steak leftover, so it was serendipitous to use that instead.
Anyway, I don't need to tell you that this was delicious. But I do encourage you to become practiced at the fine art of making these types of sauces. Once you do, you'll experience the singular joy that comes from that magical moment when the yolk and butter thicken up to create a beautiful creamy emulsion.
