Sauce Béarnaise

Why is a sauce Béarnaise so daunting? Why does the idea of making one leave me in cold sweat?

Maybe it is because I as Kim would have said am a child of a time where we think a sauce béarnaise comes in a package with Knorr on the side …. The bare idea of making it from scratch just makes me procrastinate! Funny considering that lots of housewives and chefs alike do it on a regular basis. My friend Karsten's mother to mention one!

Well yesterday I gave it a try, using the following recipe and it went quite well, I will say this though. It is quite buttery to the taste and so I added a bit of extra vinegar to the final product, stirring it in over heat. No problem. It did however separate as I tried to reheat it later! Also I found that using dry tarragon; you have to use twice as much to get the right taste. But except for that, go for it, it is not that difficult, if you follow the recipe to the letter!

Serves 2-4

180 g butter
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons dry white wine
8 black peppercorns crushed
salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon
3 egg yolks

Melt butter, remove foam from the surface and cool to tepid. Combine vinegar, wine, peppercorns, salt, shallots and 1 tablespoon
tarragon.
Boil until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Strain and cool to room temperature.
Add to egg yolks and whisk for 1 minute.
Place the mix in a double boiler over hot water and beat vigorously until
thick and creamy. The base of the pan containing mix should never be more
that hand hot. Remove from heat and whisk in tepid butter, add a few drops
at a time, until sauce starts to thicken, and thereafter in a very thin
stream. Do not add sediment at the bottom of butter.