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Hollandaise Sauce (Beat half a cup of butter)
Beat half a cup of butter to a cream; add the yolks of four eggs, one at a time, beating in each thoroughly; add one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of paprica or cayenne, and half a cup of boiling water. Cook over hot water until thick, adding gradually the juice of half a lemon. Chill before using. This is good, especially for a fish salad, in the place of mayonnaise.
A cooked hollandaise, thickened over hot water and then chilled to serve as a cold dressing rather than a warm sauce. The method is forgiving compared with the classic French version, but the temperature discipline is the same.
- The hinge: gentle heat onlyThe water in the lower pan should steam, not boil, and the bowl must not touch it. Yolks set at around 150-160F; a hard boil below will scramble them before the sauce thickens.
- Quantities in modern termsHalf a cup of butter is 4 oz or one stick; half a cup of boiling water is 4 fl oz. The juice of half a lemon is roughly 1 tablespoon, so add it gradually and taste rather than measuring blind.
- PapricaThe period spelling of paprika, generally a mild sweet paprika used for colour and gentle warmth; the cayenne alternative is considerably hotter, so a genuine dash is enough.
- Creaming the butterThe butter must be soft enough to beat to a true cream before the yolks go in. Straight from the refrigerator it will stay in lumps and refuse to take up the yolks smoothly.
- Add the yolks one at a timeThe recipe is explicit about beating in each yolk thoroughly before the next, so that the base is smooth before the water goes in.
- DonenessCook until the sauce coats a spoon and holds a line drawn through it with a finger, stirring constantly over steam. It will thicken further as it chills.
- Holding it coldCover the surface and refrigerate; use within two days. An egg-yolk sauce eaten cold should not sit out at room temperature for more than a couple of hours.
- YieldAbout a cup or a little more. If it looks broken after chilling, whisk it smooth again before serving.
Hollandaise reached American cookbooks through French professional practice, where it was a warm butter-and-yolk emulsion served with fish, asparagus and eggs; the name means "Dutch," though the reason is unsettled -- one common explanation links it to Dutch butter rather than to any Netherlandish origin. What is distinctive here is the setting: the sauce is chilled and offered as a substitute for mayonnaise, particularly for fish salad. The addition of boiling water is unusual in classical hollandaise and lightens the sauce.