Morning gents. I thought I'd get up and make the wife and kids eggs Benedict this morning as a nice send off to the old year. Well, the muffin toasting, canadian bacon warming, and egg poaching went just according to plan. As I'm sure you have gathererd from the title of this posting, there was one stumbling block and it was that bloody Hollandaise sauce! Now look. I'm a passable cook and while I prefer baking, it is not anethema to me to work on the stove. Many an enjoyable afternoon has been spent making lemon curd, chutneys, etc. So some things out of the ordinary American day to day tastes has crossed my stovetop. Most have been passable til I ran smack dab into this damnable sauce that really isn't Dutch. I went the whole route on the internet. Studied recipes and techniques, checked ingredient ratios(more on that later)and made sure I had everything ready. The first attempt resutled in scrambled eggs before I ever started adding the butter. Too hot I thought and lowere the temp. Much better with the next batch of egg yolks and lemon juice. They thickened slightly and I was ready to add butter. Bollocks! No matter how slow I poured or fast I whisked the "sauce", it was obvious that it had broken very shortly after the addition of the first little stream of butter. A gooey mess was in the bottom of the doulbe boiler and it went straight to the rubbish bin.
Okay, now that I'm done feeling sorry for myself, would someone hazard their opinion on what I'm doing wrong(or right)? I've seen the pictures on the web of perfect Hollandaise and trust me, mine was NOT so. I even tried Wiki for the lowdown and I'm telling you, ingredients are all over the place for this sauce. Wiki says about 4-6 Tbsp. of butter per 1 egg yolk. Other sites say 6-8 Tbsp. per 3-4 egg yolk! See what I mean? That's a huge difference. Of course the main admonition is technique and heat that is not too low but definately not too hot. I had the water in my double boiler at barely a simmer. I would really like to make this sauce properly and would be grateful for any help offered.
BTW, we went ahead with the rest and added a slice of melted american cheese to the muffin, then topped with the bacon and poached eggs. Sort of a(heaven forbid)topless Egg McMuffin. Albeit a heck of a lot tastier and the ingredients much better. My wife did the egg poaching for me and she turns them out perfectly.
Regards, Todd
Okay, now that I'm done feeling sorry for myself, would someone hazard their opinion on what I'm doing wrong(or right)? I've seen the pictures on the web of perfect Hollandaise and trust me, mine was NOT so. I even tried Wiki for the lowdown and I'm telling you, ingredients are all over the place for this sauce. Wiki says about 4-6 Tbsp. of butter per 1 egg yolk. Other sites say 6-8 Tbsp. per 3-4 egg yolk! See what I mean? That's a huge difference. Of course the main admonition is technique and heat that is not too low but definately not too hot. I had the water in my double boiler at barely a simmer. I would really like to make this sauce properly and would be grateful for any help offered.
BTW, we went ahead with the rest and added a slice of melted american cheese to the muffin, then topped with the bacon and poached eggs. Sort of a(heaven forbid)topless Egg McMuffin. Albeit a heck of a lot tastier and the ingredients much better. My wife did the egg poaching for me and she turns them out perfectly.
Regards, Todd