Hollandaise—that bright, velvety concoction of egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice—has a reputation for being difficult to make. In part, that’s because the delicate proteins in egg and butter can unwind and lose their ability to emulsify if overheated, causing your sauce to break and become oily and thin. Even a sauce that comes out silky smooth and rich at first can quickly lose its appeal if allowed to cool too much. Timing, temperature, and proportion must be carefully controlled in order to yield Hollandaise!

Modernist technique goes a long way with this mother sauce: Sous vide cooking allows for convenient temperature control (and thus avoidance of overheating). Serving the sauce from a whipping siphon makes it easy to reserve until you’re ready to serve it, but also aerates the mixture to order, lifting and lightening it for a softer, more delicate texture.

We’re on a mission to change Hollandaise’s bad reputation, starting with you.

Ingredients

• 40 g Champagne vinegar
• 25 g Shallots, minced
• 150 g Butter, salted
• 85 g Egg yolk
• 60 g Water
• 20 g Lemon juice
• 3 g Salt, kosher

Preparation

1. Heat water bath to 167 °F / 75 °C
2. Combine vinegar and shallots in a small pot.
3. Over high heat, reduce liquid by half.
4. Strain to remove shallots, and reserve the reduction.
5. Package butter, yolk, water, lemon juice, vinegar reduction, and salt.
6. Cook sous vide at 167 °F / 75 °C for 30 minutes.
7. Pour contents of pouch into 1-liter whipping siphon.
8. Alternatively, pour contents into the small pot, and emulsify using an immersion blender.
9. Charge siphon with two N2O cartridges.
10. To reserve, place siphon in a 149 °F / 65 °C to 158 °F / 70 °C water bath. Outside this range, your hollandaise can split.
11. Dispense to serve.

Cook’s Note

If using immersion blender instead of siphon, hold pot in water bath or double boiler so eggs don’t cook.

Scale Recipe

X 1/2

2 X

• 80 g Champagne vinegar
• 50 g Shallots, minced
• 300 g Butter, salted
• 170 g Egg yolk
• 120 g Water
• 40 g Lemon juice
• 6 g Salt, kosher

X4

• 160 g Champagne vinegar
• 100 g Shallots, minced
• 600 g Butter, salted
• 340 g Egg yolk
• 240 g Water
• 80 g Lemon juice
• 12 g Salt, kosher