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.
348 K 4.3/5 (15 reviews)
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Last modified on: May 22th 2016
For 2 people, you will need:

Change to the quantities for:
Times for this recipe
Preparation: 40 min.
Cooking: 30 min.
All in all: 1 hour 6 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
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Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - 10 min.
Béarnaise sauce
Peel and chop finely 13 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 2 ½ tablespoons white (spirit) vinegar and 2 ½ tablespoons 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 ½ cup 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 1 egg yolk, sauce base, and 13 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
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe3 RDI=1 %2 RDI=0 %80 RDI=10 %700 RDI=40 %2,940 RDI: 40 %
Per 100 g1 RDI=1 %1 RDI=0 %40 RDI=6 %380 RDI=20 %1,600 RDI: 20 %
Per person1 RDI=1 %1 RDI=0 %40 RDI=6 %350 RDI=20 %1,470 RDI: 20 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman Change to a man
Possible allergens in this recipe: egg, Milk, Sulfites, Gluten
How much will it cost?
  • For 2 people : 1.85 €
  • Per person : 0.95 €

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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)
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