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Hollandaise Sauce
Beat half a teacup of butter in a bowl to a cream; add yolks of two eggs, one by one; then juice of half a lemon, pinch of cayenne pepper, half teaspoonful salt; place this in a saucepan of boiling water; beat with an egg beater for a minute or two, until it begins to thicken; then one-half cup of boiling water, beating all the time. When like a stiff custard, it is done. It will take five minutes to cook if the bowl is thin and the water -Mrs. S. R. Kane. boils all the time.
A straightforward double-boiler hollandaise, thinned with boiling water rather than the reduction a French kitchen would use. The instructions are sound; the measurements need translating.
- Half a teacup of butterThe teacup was not a standardised measure; it is variously reckoned at anywhere from about 4 to 6 fluid ounces, so half is roughly 1/4 to 1/3 cup, or 4 to 6 tablespoons. The butter should be soft enough to beat to a cream, not melted, and unsalted butter is a better base given the half teaspoon of salt that follows.
- The hinge: heat the bowl, not the eggsSet the bowl over the water rather than in it, and keep the water at a bare simmer despite the original's insistence on a full boil. Yolks begin to set well below boiling, and a thin bowl sitting in rolling water will take them past that faster than an egg beater can save them.
- Add the yolks one by oneThis is not fussiness. Working each yolk into the creamed butter separately builds the emulsion before any heat is applied, which is what keeps the sauce from breaking later.
- The boiling waterThe half cup of boiling water added at the end is both a thinner and insurance: it drops the butter-to-liquid ratio and makes the emulsion more forgiving. Add it in a thin stream while beating, not all at once.
- If it breaksPull the bowl off the heat immediately and beat in a tablespoon of cold water, or start a fresh yolk in a clean warm bowl and whisk the broken sauce into it drop by drop.
- TimingFive minutes is realistic for a thin bowl. Judge by texture rather than the clock: when the whisk leaves tracks and the sauce coats a spoon, it is finished.
- Yield and holdingAbout a cup, enough for four servings. Hollandaise will not reheat; hold it up to an hour in a warm (not hot) place, covered, and whisk before serving.
The name hollandaise is generally traced to the Dutch reputation for good butter and eggs rather than to any Dutch dish; a related tradition holds that the sauce was called sauce Isigny after the Normandy butter town and took the Dutch name during a period when Normandy butter was scarce. That story is repeated more often than it is documented. What is clear is that by the time American community cookbooks of this sort were being compiled, hollandaise had crossed from professional French kitchens into the domestic repertoire, and had been simplified in the crossing: no wine or vinegar reduction here, no clarified butter, just creamed butter, yolks, lemon and a bowl over hot water. Its appearance under Game reflects how such books were organised around what a sauce accompanied rather than what it was, and a rich lemon-sharp butter sauce was standard treatment for wildfowl, fish and boiled vegetables alike.