Béarnaise sauce


Béarnaise sauce
This very tasty sauce, flavoured with tarragon, chervil and shallot, with its hint of acidity, is perfect for grilled fish or meats. Its well-known as a difficult sauce, but here are all the tips that you need to succeed.
330K 15 4.3
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Last modified on: May 22th 2016

Keywords for this recipe:
For 6 people, you will need:

Change to the quantities for: 2 people 3 people 6 people 12 people 18 people
How long does it take?
Time required for this recipe:
PreparationCookingStart to finish
36 min.30 min.1 hour 6 min.
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Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - 10 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Peel and chop finely 1 shallot.

Chop tarragon and chervil finely.

Reserve one teaspoon of chopped herbs for garnishing.

Stage 2 - 1 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Put shallot and herbs in a small pan, salt and pepper generously.

Stage 3 - 15 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Pour in 100 ml white (spirit) vinegar and 100 ml dry white wine.

Reduce over low heat until you are left with about 1/5 of the original volume.

Stage 4 - 3 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Pour the contents of the pan into a chinois or a strainer, and squeeze herbs to extract the juices.

Stage 5
Béarnaise sauce
You should get only 2 to 4 tablespoons of this tasty liquid which is the base for your sauce.

This base could be made several days beforehand, and kept in a sealed jar in the fridge.

Stage 6 - 5 min.
Béarnaise sauce
On the day, melt 250 g butter, remove the foam which rises to the top and discard it.

Your goal is to clarify the butter, removing as far as possbile the white impurities (whey) which will be left on the bottom.

Leave to cool.

Stage 7 - 5 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Prepare a bain-marie.

Put 2 egg yolks, sauce base, and 1 pinch flour in the bowl over the bain-marie.

Stage 8 - 10 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Put over low heat, and beat to form a sabayon.

Stage 9
Béarnaise sauce
Continue to beat until it thickens, and "holds" the whisk.

Stage 10
Béarnaise sauce
Then add the melted butter, a little at a time, while beating continously.

Stage 11 - 15 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Your Béarnaise will develop its texture. Continue until all the butter is added, apart from the very last bit in the container with all the impurities (discard).

Stage 12 - 2 min.
Béarnaise sauce
And finally add the spoonful of herbs.

Serve without too much delay. If your dish is not ready, leave the sauce to wait in the bain-marie, not too hot, with a lid.
Remarks
Some technical words: Béarnaise is a sauce of the warm emulsified kind (like hollandaise and mousseline), which means a hot base, here a well-flavoured sabayon, where butter is added to get this smooth texture.

Usually chefs make bearnaise in a different way: everything in a single pan, without a bain-marie. Faster, but more difficult.
Keeping
A few minutes, not more.
Source
Nicolas.
Nutritional information
Whole recipe
Energetic valueProteins CarbohydratesFats
2,067 Kcal or 8,654 Kj9 gr7 gr223 gr
103 %3 %1 %34 %
Per 100 g
Energetic valueProteins CarbohydratesFats
386 Kcal or 1,616 Kj2 gr1 gr42 gr
19 %1 %<1 %6 %
Per person
Energetic valueProteins CarbohydratesFats
344 Kcal or 1,440 Kj1 gr1 gr37 gr
17 %1 %<1 %6 %
% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).
Possible allergens in this recipe: Egg, Milk, Sulfites, Gluten
How much will it cost?
  • For 6 people : 4.63 £
  • Per person : 0.77 £

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
This recipe uses (among others)
ButterButter: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Moist Lemon Cake, Morel risotto with Vin Jaune and Mont d'Or, Celeriac and sesame soup, Thin spinach and potato tart, Fish "à la Bordelaise", ... All
White (spirit) vinegarWhite (spirit) vinegar: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Poached eggs, How to prepare romanesco, Cervelle de Canut, Provençal remoulade sauce, How to prepare cabbage, ... All
Dry white wineDry white wine: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Quiche Bretonne, Fish "à la Bordelaise", Blanquette of veal, Filet mignon with asparagus, Spaghetti with mussels and basil, ... All
Egg yolkEgg yolk: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Household cake (Gâteau de ménage), Butter cream, Gâteau Basque , Lemon Confectioner's Custard, Chicken breasts in a potato crust, ... All
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