Beautiful Hollandaise broke down within minutes!

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mikecox

Assistant Cook
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Feb 13, 2013
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I created a beautiful, thick, smooth sauce, then; as directed by the recipe, I added a T of lemon.

Then I plated my asperges, picked up the bowl with my beautiful thick sauce, and discovered it had broken down and curdled.

I had reservations about adding an acid to this sauce but the recipe clearly states add the lemon juice at the end, and it did exactly what I expected it to do.

So, what went wrong? Did I add it too fast maybe?

Help!
 
Some recipes call for the lemon to be whisked into the butter early in the recipe. Others have it whisked in at the end. My only thought is that the lemon was added too quickly.

Maybe try a different recipe.
 
In the process of making great Eggs Benedict, ATk makes a very nice Hollandaise sauce that will hold without breaking for hours Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WmoBVQafJE

My own Hollandaise Sauce is described here:

Hollandaise is an emulsion of fat, and egg, flavored with lemon juice. It is much easier to make than most people think if you follow correct procedure, you will need a double boiler, or saucepot and a heat resistant glass bowl. , and a balloon whisk.

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks (large)

1pinch Kosher Slt

1 tbs. Lemon juice

4 sticks of butter, melted

Heat water in the double boiler until it simmers. Place the separated egg yolks into the top of the double boiler (or into the glass bowl) and place on top of the bottom pan. Do not let the top section touch the water. Whisk vigorously until the yolk begins to thicken. Whisk in the lemon juice and salt. Finally, slowly whisk in the melted butter until you get a silky-smooth sauce.
Remove from the heat and use immediately. Serve this over veggies such as asparagus, or over poached eggs. It’s also great over cauliflower, or broccoli.

Seeeeya: Chief Longwind of the North
 
Some recipes call for the lemon to be whisked into the butter early in the recipe. Others have it whisked in at the end. My only thought is that the lemon was added too quickly.

Maybe try a different recipe.
Thanks for your response. After posting this I watched a Martha Stewart video in which she stopped whisking and simply dumped the lemon juice in, then stirred it. I added mine slowly. But hers turned out perfectly fine and mine broke. Go figure.

I guess I'm doing it correctly, I'll try again later.
 
I just broke al of the rules and was rewarded with a beautiful Hollandaise sauce that was silky smooth, rich, and wonderful. Ans, it didn't break after sitting for over an hour. Here's what I did. And it just goes to show that this sauce isn't as finicky as everyone says it is.

  • Seperate2 eggs. The yolks will be used for the sauce.
  • Soften a stick of butter, fresh from the fridge, for 20 seconds in the microwave.
  • Place a heavy-bottomed saucepan on the stove top over low heat.

Place 1 tbs, lemon juice with butter in the saucepan. When the butter is half melted, add the egg yolks and whisk vigorously until it the sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat and whisk for three more minutes.

Serve over asparagus, or broccoli, or use to make eggs benedict.

For breaking all of the rules, and just throwing this together, this Hollandaise Sauce surprised me with both its flavor, and textural quality, It was so easy to make. No double boiler, no drizzling in melted butter, no straining.

You've got to try this technique. Either I'm the luckiest cook on the planet, or I'm just able to use what I know about making creamy sauces with egg yolks, be it pastry cream, ice cream base, or emulsified sauces (mayonnaise, Caesar salad dressing, etc,) and use that knowledge to make a really good, really simple Hollandaise Sauce.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Thanks for your response. After posting this I watched a Martha Stewart video in which she stopped whisking and simply dumped the lemon juice in, then stirred it. I added mine slowly. But hers turned out perfectly fine and mine broke. Go figure.

I guess I'm doing it correctly, I'll try again later.

I have found that typically, a sauce, be it an emulsified sauce like Hollandaise, or a cheese sauce, or even a bechamel, breaks due to excess heat. As soon as the sauce starts to thicken. it needs to be removed from the heat, and continuously whisked until it cools a bit. Could excess heat have been your problem I'm not saying it was. It;s just a thought.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
I use Eric Ripert's blender Hollandaise recipe/method. No heat involved other than hot water you fill the blender with prior, then dump and dry, plus the warm butter. I've held it for up to an hour without breaking, never tried longer.
 
Thank-you

My own Hollandaise Sauce

Thanks for the ATK clip, I've added it to my YouTube recipe collection.

I found the comments about soft vs melted interesting because I cook with clarified butter. Maybe that is part of the problem, although my original attempt produced and very smooth sauce, that broke after I added the lemon.

I noticed that this method added the lemon first

I subscribe to CI and went to their website in search of a Hollandaise video but didn't find one; must have not looked hard enough.

In your recipe, and the recipe I used; which is almost identical to yours, the lemon goes in last. So the only thing I can attribute to the breakdown of my sauce is that I used clarified butter. So the next time I try this I'll use plain melted butter, or I'll try and method in the ATK video.

Thanks for your help. And for the bonus instructions on how to poach eggs for a group!

I plan to check out your blog!
 
I use Eric Ripert's blender Hollandaise recipe/method. No heat involved other than hot water you fill the blender with prior, then dump and dry, plus the warm butter. I've held it for up to an hour without breaking, never tried longer.
I hear it's simple but, IMHO, blenders can be messy, with all that scraping and splattering. Besides, I like stirring and watching things developed. But thanks for your suggestion.
 
Thanks

I just broke al of the rules

Thanks, I like the simplicity of this recipe, and I like that the lemon jc is added to the butter at the start, before the eggs. I will definitely give this a try, as well as your other recipe.

One way or another I am going to learn how to make this sauce because I've promised friends a dinner party that includes Asparagus with Hollandaise!

While I consider myself a pretty good cook I've never faced down the Hollandaise challenger, and it's time!
 
Hi, Mike..I've always added the lemon juice, or white wine, at the beginning also...Hollandaise requires a nice stable temperature of all ingredients from start to finish. It can be finicky at the best of times. It could have reacted to your lemon juice temperature...if you want to hold it for a while before you use it, make sure it is in a warm area,80-90 degrees, like near the stove while you are prepping the rest of the meal..it should hold..restaurants make big batches and leave them in a metal bowl or insert someplace warm, not hot, and take from there as they need it..
 
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