Christopher’s Sauce Béarnaise
Nothing is sexier and more Luxé than being able to whip up a Béarnaise from scratch. You might screw up a couple of times, but once you get the hang of it, you’re golden.
- Fresh tarragon
- Parsley, plus the stems
- Shallot, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup of water
- 6 white pepper corns
- 2/3 lb of butter
- 3 egg yolks
- Tabasco
Keep the egg yolks in room temperature while prepping; if they’re too cold, you’re dead.
Put water, vinegar, tarragon, parsley stems, whole pepper corns and chopped shallots in a stainless steel pot and let it simmer on medium heat until half of the liquid is gone.
Sift the reduction so you’re left with only the liquid. Discard the herbs etc. and let it cool off for just a little bit. While the reduction cools off, melt the butter on low heat and put aside.
Now to the tricky part… Add the egg yolks and whisk them into the reduction while keeping it on very low temperature. Keep whisking like there’s no tomorrow! The eggs will soon start to emulsify and get creamy and you need to pay attention to this. As soon as it starts to thicken, you must remove it from the heat (actually, you need to remove it BEFORE it starts to thicken, it’s a bit of a Jedi mind trick, but you’ll get the hang of it eventually). Once you got that perfect creamy thing going, carefully add the butter, very little at a time at first, and again, whisk, whisk, whisk!
Now just add the finely chopped parsley and tarragon, then turn right and high five whoever is standing next to you. Finally make it luxe by adding a few drops of Tabasco. There, you’re done. Bravo!
Think you can do better? Click here to send us your recipe.
Recommended booze:
The Béarnaise itself. Seriously, drink it, it’s that good.
