Dish · french

Hollandaise Sauce

An emulsified sauce of egg yolks and melted butter, sharpened with lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne, served warm over eggs, asparagus, or fish.

Where it comes from

French chefs formalized hollandaise as one of five mother sauces by the turn of the twentieth century, though the butter-and-egg method behind it is older and the name may point to Dutch dairy traditions rather than a French origin.

What cooks argue about

Cooks argue over whether to add the melted butter off the heat, risking a sauce that never sets, or over gentle direct heat, risking scrambled curds if the yolks go past about 160 degrees.

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