Béarnaise sauce (/bərˈneɪz/; French: [be.aʁ.nɛz]) is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. It is widely regarded as the "child" of the Hollandaise sauce. [1] The difference is only in the flavoring: Béarnaise uses shallot, chervil, peppercorns, and tarragon in a reduction of vinegar and wine, while Hollandaise is made of a reduction of lemon juice or white wine vinegar, with white peppercorns and a pinch of cayenne instead of the above seasonings.
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Type | Sauce |
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Place of origin | France |
Main ingredients | Egg yolk, clarified butter, white wine vinegar |
The sauce's name is related to the province of Béarn, France.[citation needed] It is light yellow and opaque, smooth and creamy, and a traditional sauce for steak.[2][3]
The sauce was accidentally[dubious – discuss] invented by the chef Jean-Louis Françoise-Collinet, the accidental inventor of puffed potatoes (pommes de terre soufflées),[4] and served at the 1836 opening of Le Pavillon Henri IV, a restaurant at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. This assumption is supported by the fact that the restaurant was in the former residence of Henry IV of France, a gourmet himself, who was from Béarn,[4][5] a former province now in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
A Béarnaise sauce is simply clarified butter, an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar. It takes years of practice for the result to be perfect. – Fernand Point [6]
As with Hollandaise sauce, there are several methods for preparing of Béarnaise sauce. The most common uses a bain-marie (whisking to a temperature of 150F (65.6C)),[7] where a reduction of vinegar is used to acidulate the yolks. Escoffier[2] calls for a reduction of wine, vinegar, shallots, fresh chervil, fresh tarragon and crushed peppercorns (later strained out), with fresh tarragon and chervil to finish instead of lemon juice. Others are similar.[8]
Alternatively, the flavorings may be added to a finished Hollandaise (without lemon juice). Joy of Cooking[9] describes a blender preparation with the same ingredients.
Mayonnaise family sauces | |
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List of mayonnaises |