Hollandaise sauce
- Published: 31 Oct 04
- Updated: 26 May 25
Our simple and easy-to-follow hollandaise recipe makes the perfect hollandaise sauce, every time. This simple but refined sauce can elevate a simple piece of cooked fish for the smartest dining, allow dull steamed vegetables to take centre stage or jazz up a grilled steak. The classic way to enjoy is to serve over eggs for breakfast or with grilled fish for dinner.
Hollandaise is an emulsion of lightly cooked eggs and butter, and it’s often this delicate marriage that causes cooks to come unstuck. Both ingredients can split or curdle if over-heated, so the trick is to keep the cooking heat as gentle as a baby’s bath. Cook the hollandaise in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, and take the bowl and pan off the heat while whisking in the last few knobs of butter.
Purists and braver souls will tell you that you can successfully make a hollandaise in a pan set directly over the heat. You can, but why make things harder? This method is foolproof.
To use up the leftover egg whites, why not make these super easy soft amaretti biscuits.
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Serves 4 -
Ready in 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 6 black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 blade (whole) mace
- 2 egg yolks
- 110g diced unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Good squeeze of lemon juice, to taste
delicious. tips
The easiest way to keep hollandaise warm without it curdling is to put the finished sauce into a Thermos flask – it will keep warm safely for hours.
Incidentally, if your hollandaise curdles you can rescue it by whisking a fresh egg yolk with a teaspoon of warm water and a knob of butter in a clean bowl until smooth, then gradually whisk in the split sauce until smooth and thick again.
Watch our how-to make hollandaise video below…