Bearnaise sauce

Bearnaise sauce

This is one of the true greats among sauces. Invented by the French (who else), I honestly believe it is one of the best sauces ever to go with a steak.

Bearnaise sauce belongs to the same family of sauces as the Hollandaise sauce. They differ in the flavoring.

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Servings 1
Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 7 oz butter
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp calf or beef stock
  • 1 tbsp dried tarragon

Instructions

  • Heat the butter slowly in a pan. Keep it warm. You will see that the butter kind of separates, you get a clear part and some white stuff at the bottom. Leave the white stuff there, only use the clear butter.
  • Mix the egg yolks over very gentle heat (never go above 60° C / 140° F) with the mustard, vinegar, stock and tarragon in another pan. Whisk/mix until the mixture just begins to thicken. Remove it from the stove immediately. If the pan is thick, place it on a wet kitchen towel, so the towel will absorb any residual heat from the pan.
  • Now the hard part begins. Start by dripping the butter into the yolk mix, constantly whisking. After a while, pour the butter in a very thin stream into the yolks, constantly whisking. You want the egg yolks to bind/hold the butter in suspension.
  • Two things are of utter importance to the success of this sauce:
    1. Make sure the butter and yolk mix have the same temp before mixing. Use a thermometer! I started mixing when they were both at 40° C / 104° F.
    2. Don’t add too much butter at a time. You really should mix the butter very little at a time.
  • Now, what to do with all those egg whites, you wonder? Why not a Creme Toum, it’s a great sauce for grilled meats.

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