I Love Hollandaise

All this talk about hollandaise has made my mouth water. I have a ridiculous, unapologetic love for hollandaise sauce. It’s rich, creamy, and versatile.
Admittedly, I did not bond immediately with the sauce when I got to cooking school. We didn’t use blenders, or tricks or shortcuts; we learned the old fashioned way;, a pot of simmering water, egg yolks, clarified butter and a whisk. I had the concept down- I did not have the strength. By the time the eggs were properly frothy, my arm was tired. Eventually, I built up my strength and got past the panic of making it “on the fly”. Now, I love making it by hand (although I do “cheat” and use an immersion blender for large batches). One of the most interesting exercises that we went through as a class was a “hollandaise cook off”.
Traditionally, the sauce is made with egg yolks, beaten until frothy, and clarified butter. The fat emulsifies the egg yolks, resulting in a thick and creamy texture. However, butter can be replaced by any liquid fat, so long as the ratio of fat to egg yolk does not change. In our cook-off, each group was given a different fat to make hollandaise with. We tried clarified butter, extra virgin olive oil, olive oil, vegetable oil, and duck fat.
The clarified butter was the creamiest version, and naturally had a buttery flavor.
The olive oils were surprisingly different; the extra virgin olive oil left a much deeper flavor on the palate than regular olive oil, but both of the sauces had a distinct olive-y taste. Try an olive oil hollandaise as a sauce for roasted or grilled vegetables, or roasted fingerling potatoes. I think that it would be good with grilled fish as well, which would work nicely in a Mediterranean meal.
The vegetable oil version was like a warm mayonnaise; not bad, but unremarkable. It would be good in an elegant potato salad.
Finally- the duck fat hollandaise. It was so good that I felt wrong eating it (until I was reminded that there’s no such thing as “too good”, there’s only really, really good). Imagine duck confit and hollandaise in one amazing marriage of richness and, meaty-ness and absolute deliciousness. There aren’t enough “-ness;” words to describe it. It is good on just about anything.
Hopefully this is inspiration enough to break out the whisk (or blender) and whip up some creamy goodness, no matter which version you choose. To get you started, try In Good Taste’s basic Hollandaise recipe.
-Josie