AI-generated
Béarnaise sauce — butter sauce with tarragon and shallot
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Source: https://recipheon.com/en/recipes/snacks/bearnaise-sauce-butter-sauce-with-tarragon-and-shallot
About this recipe
Béarnaise is a warm French sauce with a buttery flavor, gentle acidity and the distinctive aroma of tarragon. In this homemade version, finely chopped shallot is reduced with white wine vinegar and weighed water, then combined with yolks warmed over gentle steam. Add cold butter a few small pieces at a time, stirring constantly, until a creamy, glossy emulsion forms. Use all the unsalted butter, including its natural milk solids, without clarifying it. All the soft shallot and chopped tarragon leaves stay in the sauce, giving it a pleasant, finely textured consistency. Gentle heating is the key: excessive heat can curdle the yolks or cause the butter to separate. The ingredients make about four servings of sauce as an accompaniment to a meal. Prepare it just before serving and serve warm, while it flows easily from a spoon.
Ingredients
Shallot and tarragon reduction
30 g raw shallot, net weight after peeling and trimming the ends
25 g white wine vinegar with about 5% acidity, weighed
25 g water, weighed, for the reduction
3 g fresh tarragon leaves, washed and dried, without stems: 1 g for the reduction and 2 g to finish
0.3 g ground black pepper
The entire butter and yolk sauce
40 g raw egg yolks, weighed without whites or shells, from about 2–3 eggs
15 g water, weighed, for whisking the yolks
150 g cold unsalted butter, 82% fat, whole and not clarified, cut into small cubes
0.8 g fine salt
Steps
Peel the shallot, weigh out 30 g and chop very finely. Wash and thoroughly dry tarragon, pick the leaves, weigh out 3 g and chop. Set aside 1 g for the reduction and keep the remaining 2 g for finishing. Weigh out 40 g raw yolks without whites or shells; cover and refrigerate, not taking them out until the reduction has cooled. Keep the cubed butter cold as well.
Put all shallot in a small saucepan about 12–14 cm in diameter, along with 25 g vinegar, 25 g water, 1 g tarragon and 0.3 g pepper. Simmer gently without a lid for about 6–8 minutes, stirring, until the shallot softens and roughly a tablespoon of liquid remains on the bottom. Do not let the shallot dry out and do not brown it; all the reduction will be used.
AI-generated Take the saucepan off the heat and transfer all the reduction, including liquid, shallot and herbs, to a metal or heatproof bowl. Scrape it out thoroughly with a spatula, without straining. Leave for about 5 minutes until only lukewarm and no longer visibly steaming. Do not add yolks to the hot saucepan.
Bring a little water to a boil in a pot, then lower the heat until it only steams gently. The bowl containing the reduction must rest securely on the pot; its bottom must stay above the water and must not touch it. The pot water is only for heating the bowl and does not go into the sauce.
Add all the weighed 40 g yolks and the separately prepared 15 g water to the bowl of lukewarm reduction. Mix with a small whisk before setting the bowl over steam. Combine thoroughly, scraping the sides of the bowl. Keep all small shallot and tarragon pieces; do not add butter yet.
Set the bowl over gentle steam and whisk without stopping for about 4–6 minutes, reaching around the sides too. The mixture should become paler, fluffy and noticeably thicker, briefly holding the whisk's trail. If the water starts boiling hard or the mixture thickens rapidly at the edges, lift the bowl off briefly and keep stirring.
AI-generated Over the lowest heat, add 1–2 small cubes of cold butter at a time, whisking constantly. Add more once the previous pieces have combined with the sauce. If heating too strongly, lift the bowl off the steam briefly without stopping stirring. Over about 6–8 minutes, work in all 150 g butter until the sauce is creamy and glossy. Do not let the sauce boil.
AI-generated Take the bowl off the pot. Stir in the remaining 2 g chopped tarragon and all 0.8 g salt. The sauce should flow gently from a spoon and stay combined, with small shallot and herb pieces. Scrape it thoroughly from the sides. All the weighed leaves must go into the sauce, without reserving any for garnish.
Transfer all the sauce to a warmed but dry sauceboat and divide into four portions of about 60 g. Serve warm immediately after preparation, without holding it over steam for a long time. Cover leftovers and refrigerate within 2 hours, then use within 24 hours. Chilled sauce will thicken; warm it carefully over gentle steam, stirring constantly and not allowing it to boil.
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