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Bearnaise Sauce
Yolks of four eggs 4 tablespoonfuls of olive oil Dash of cayenne 1/4 teaspoonful of salt 4 tablespoonfuls of hot water 1 tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar Beat the yolks until creamy, add the water and oil, stand the bowl in a pan of boiling water, and stir until the eggs (82) thicken. Take from the fire and add the vinegar, salt and pepper; mix well, and stand away to cool.
This is most delicious, and may be served with broiled steaks, smelts, or lobster chops.
This is a béarnaise in name and flavor only: it is thickened over water like a custard, built on olive oil rather than clarified butter, and served cool. Treat it as a warm-emulsion sauce that sets as it chills.
- The hinge: gentle heatThe bowl sits in a pan of boiling water, not on the burner. Yolks begin to set around 150-160F and curdle not far above that, so stir constantly and pull it the moment it coats the spoon; a few seconds too long and you have scrambled egg with oil floating on top.
- Add the oil slowlyThe instruction to "add the water and oil" glosses over the emulsion. Whisk in the hot water first, then the 4 tablespoons of oil in a thin stream, so the yolks take it up rather than sitting under a slick.
- Cayenne and "pepper"The ingredient list calls for cayenne and the method later says pepper; they are the same thing here. A dash means roughly 1/8 teaspoon or less.
- Tarragon vinegarThis carries the whole identity of the sauce. Bottled tarragon vinegar is still sold; failing that, steep a few bruised sprigs of fresh tarragon in white wine vinegar for a week. Plain white vinegar will give you a sharp egg sauce with no béarnaise character at all.
- The "(82)"A reference mark carried over from the original book, pointing to another numbered recipe or page rather than being an instruction or a quantity. Ignore it.
- Serving cool, and holding it"Stand away to cool" meant a cool larder. This is a lightly cooked egg sauce, so cool it and refrigerate it, and use it within a day. Do not leave it standing at room temperature.
- YieldAbout 3/4 cup, enough for four to six servings as a dressing rather than a pool of sauce.
- Smelts and lobster chopsSmelts are still available whole and fried; "lobster chops" were a croquette of chopped lobster shaped and breaded, sometimes with a piece of shell or a claw tip set in as a mock bone. Any firm broiled fish or cold shellfish suits the sauce.
Béarnaise is generally traced to the kitchen of the Pavillon Henri IV at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the 1830s, the name a nod to Henri IV, the king from Béarn, though the attribution is traditional rather than documented. What is striking here is how far this version has drifted from the French original of egg yolks, butter and a tarragon-vinegar reduction: olive oil replaces the butter, hot water lightens it, and the sauce is deliberately cooled.