Sauce Béarnaise

Sauce Béarnaise is one of the five "mother sauces" of Auguste Escoffier. It is an herb-butter emulsion.

Why do we love emulsions? Because they are kind of finicky. If you don't get it right, the emulsion will break, sometimes right before your eyes. Failure is disheartening. Success chuffs you up. Béarnaise is many things, but subtle it is not. It is a one-two punch of aromatic herbs and vinegar. You make it to impress, to blow out the cobwebs, to make a statement. That's the why, here's the how.

Reduce finely chopped shallots, a mignonette of Belem pepper, wine wine and wine vinegar with chopped estragon until all the moisture is gone. Let it cool, then with your reduction now in a double boiler over low heat stir in three egg yolks and their volume again of water. Avoid high heat, keep it moving and do not let the eggs cook. Mount the emulsion by adding little chunks of cold clarified butter until you have the emulsified sauce where you want it. Pass it through a fine sieve then add chopped estragon and chervil to serve. Pat yourself on the back. You are rocking French cuisine. Remember that with complex foods, simple wines work best.