Clarified butter in hollandaise sauce

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It' will emulsify just fine without being clarified. It might hold slightly better with clarified butter, but it would be tough to measure.

The only reason I can think of to clarify the butter for hollandaise would be to reduce the flavor of the butter (the milk solids).

I LIKE the flavor of the butter in hollandaise.

thymeless
 
As tattrat said: it has to do with emulsion.
If you clarify the butter you basically remove impurities (remains of whey, water,...) and you keep the pure oil from the butter. Then the eggs in your sauce can do the rest.
It's the same as butter with eggyolks is tasty, but would never yield you a mayonnaise :)
 
:) I have always made hollandaise with just melted butter and it turns out great.I just dont use the watery white stuff at bottom of pan.
 
Another vote for not bothering with clarified butter for Hollandaise - or any other emulsified sauce for that matter. I've been making them for 30+ years with regular butter & they've always turned out just fine.
 
You can do it if you like, but it's not a completely necessary step. It won't change the flavour or thickness overmuch. I've always been satisfied with the end result as long as the butter was room temperature.

For what it's worth, I loathe making hollandaise sauce. It's hard to hold, which means that you have to get involved in a project just before service/serving. Sure, you can hold it, but it's just one more thing to keep an eye on as you are usually doing everything else. Nothing worse than a broken sauce.

I did make a killer lime/cilantro hollandaise once... Came out lovely.
 
tellytez said:
from what I've learned in school, we only clarify butter to get out the fats. It will be the white foam on top.

the fat is the butterfat which happens to be the clarified butter; the white foam on the bottom is the milk solids, the white foam on the top is the whey proteins. the reason to clarify butter is for higher smoke point in order to fry in it and also to last longer in storage.
 
VeraBlue said:
You can do it if you like, but it's not a completely necessary step. It won't change the flavour or thickness overmuch. I've always been satisfied with the end result as long as the butter was room temperature.

For what it's worth, I loathe making hollandaise sauce. It's hard to hold, which means that you have to get involved in a project just before service/serving. Sure, you can hold it, but it's just one more thing to keep an eye on as you are usually doing everything else. Nothing worse than a broken sauce.

I did make a killer lime/cilantro hollandaise once... Came out lovely.
I'm all with you on the hollandaise sauce. The problem is it's such a tasty sauce... especially as béarnaise.
As far as your lime-cilantro hollandaise is concerned: did you make it "to taste" or did you keep ratio's or write a recipe? And if so, would you mind sharing it? Pretty please?
 
Hades said:
I'm all with you on the hollandaise sauce. The problem is it's such a tasty sauce... especially as béarnaise.
As far as your lime-cilantro hollandaise is concerned: did you make it "to taste" or did you keep ratio's or write a recipe? And if so, would you mind sharing it? Pretty please?

Good morning Hades

I had no recipe for that particular sauce, I just made it up to go with poached eggs I served with chorizo and cornbread. I followed my basic recipe and substituted lime juice for the lemon juice. Just before service, I added the zest of the lime and 2 tablespooons chopped cilantro. It was great...and accompanied by bloody marys:huh:
 
VeraBlue said:
Good morning Hades

"... I just made it up to go with poached eggs I served with chorizo and cornbread. ......and accompanied by bloody marys:huh:"

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i'm droolin' here. if i could get my hands on some chorizo, i'd whip some up next weekend, but seeing as i can't, i've got just one question. what's your address vb?
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Clarified butter is not mandatory, but provides the smoothest textured sauce. Clarified butter is required however for a thick sauce such as a sabayon since whole butter is only 75% fat; this means that 25% is water and will not work well in a thick sauce. Clarified butter is best for the best end results
 
I agree with chef Jimmy. You will also find that your sauce will hold better if you use clarified butter.
 
VeraBlue said:
Good morning Hades

I had no recipe for that particular sauce, I just made it up to go with poached eggs I served with chorizo and cornbread. I followed my basic recipe and substituted lime juice for the lemon juice. Just before service, I added the zest of the lime and 2 tablespooons chopped cilantro. It was great...and accompanied by bloody marys:huh:
mmmmmmm.... cornbread, chorizo, poached eggs and lime-cilantro hollandaise. Sounds great :) I'm going to give it a try soon. Thanks Vera.
I'll give the Bloody Mary's a go too... never had one in all my life :ermm:
 
philso said:
VeraBlue said:
Good morning Hades

"... I just made it up to go with poached eggs I served with chorizo and cornbread. ......and accompanied by bloody marys:huh:"

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i'm droolin' here. if i could get my hands on some chorizo, i'd whip some up next weekend, but seeing as i can't, i've got just one question. what's your address vb?
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I'm in northern New Jersey....if you start out now, I'll have breakfast waiting for you in 24 hours!
 
Hades said:
mmmmmmm.... cornbread, chorizo, poached eggs and lime-cilantro hollandaise. Sounds great :) I'm going to give it a try soon. Thanks Vera.
I'll give the Bloody Mary's a go too... never had one in all my life :ermm:

I'm not a big fan of tomato juice...I see the bloody mary as a vehicle for vodka.

Use a good quality tomato juice, and an even better vodka. Cheap vodka will just give you a headache. I also like mine spicy...so the lime is a nice cut in the bloody mary, as well.
 
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