Foolproof Béarnaise Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in a béarnaise sauce? ›

Irresistibly creamy, buttery, and rich, Béarnaise combines an herby, slightly acidic reduction of white wine, vinegar, shallots, fresh tarragon, and lemon juice with hollandaise to make a luscious sauce for spooning over grilled steak, chicken, fish, or vegetables.

If your béarnaise is thin and runny, transfer to a large bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water. Whisk constantly and vigorously until sauce is thickened.

Put egg yolk in a clean bowl. Whisk it then add the broken sauce drop by drop with continuing to whisk. If you don't have 3 hands or a way to hold the bowl still, you may want someone to help you. Whisk until the sauce is creamy and hom*ogeneous.

Béarnaise instead relies on punchy white wine vinegar, sometimes in concert with fresh lemon. The second major difference is that béarnaise sauce is flavored with sautéed shallots, black pepper, and licorice-like tarragon, occasionally among other fresh herbs.

A broken sauce is generally caused by the separation of sauces into two components: a watery liquid and an oily film on top. This happens when there's too much fat or liquid in the mixture. This can happen when there are not enough emulsifiers (which help keep your ingredients together).

It is regarded as a "child" of hollandaise sauce. The difference is only in the flavoring: béarnaise uses shallot, black pepper, and tarragon, while hollandaise uses white pepper or a pinch of cayenne. The sauce's name derives from the province of Béarn, France. It is a traditional sauce for steak.

Lower the temperature to 60 ºC and add the egg yolks while whisking. The egg yolks will thicken the sauce even more. When your sauce is creamy and delicious, you can season it with salt and chopped tarragon. Depending on how thick you want your béarnaise, you can add a little water to dilute it.

Work over consistent heat––sometimes a big jump in temperature can cause the emulsion to break and separate. While cooking, keeping the heat low and slow can keep your sauce happy and together! Add a little fat back––a classic emulsified sauce is typically a 1:1 ratio of fat to liquid!

Can you save a split bearnaise sauce? ›

BUT don't despair you can save your Béarnaise sauce. Simply start the whole process again with fresh egg yolks and instead of the using melted butter this time, use the split egg mixture slowly incorporating until the sauce is glossy and smooth again.

Adjust seasoning, add remaining tarragon:

If the bearnaise becomes too thick, you may thin it with a little additional lemon juice or water.

Be mindful that the emulsion doesn't get too hot. Otherwise, it will begin to separate. If it does, just add an ice cube or one tablespoon of cold water and briskly whisk.

These sauces should be held at low temperatures, 120°F/50˚C. Because they contain egg yolks and must be held in the food temperature danger zone, prepare as close to service as possible and never hold for longer than 4 hours before discarding.

Shelf Life Total Ambient/Unopened 12 month(s) Store in a cool, dry place. Glutamate ✓ mg/kg ✓ Naturally occurring glutamates. No Added MSG. Knorr Béarnaise Sauce - a delicious and versatile ready-to-use sauce to complement meat, poultry, fish & vegetable dishes.

It's what happens next that sets them apart: Hollandaise gets its acidity from lemon juice (sometimes vinegar) and is usually seasoned with salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper. Béarnaise, meanwhile, builds upon hollandaise with white wine vinegar, shallots, tarragon, and other fresh herbs.

Béarnaise sauce is like a cooked mayonnaise, with Tarragon added to it. That's about as simple as I can put it. It CAN be a bit prickly to make, but it's got ENORMOUS flavor, is rich with healthy fats and is extremely low carb.

If you use mayonnaise instead, however, you don't have to worry about the egg and butter separating and can use just a regular saucepan. As NPR explains, tumeric colors the sauce so it looks like the real thing, and the mayo substitute tastes like a real béarnaise as well—just with less effort.

What is Béarnaise Sauce? Béarnaise sauce is a delicious and creamy classic French sauce that is often made from a reduction of vinegar and wine mixed with shallots, tarragon, and (sometimes) chervil and thickened with egg yolks and butter. It's typically served with meat, fish, eggs, or vegetables.