Life's Firsts: Eggs Benedict

I carefully watched Chef Mario make his own hollandaise sauce. According to him, there are only five mother sauces ever invented in history. These are: béchamel, veloute, tomato, espagnole and the fifth and the hardest to make, the hollandaise sauce.

 The day was tranquil but my heart wasn’t. Maybe it’s just a feeling of anxiousness going all over my system since I know that I need to make my own hollandaise sauce after chef’s demonstration. Apparently, I badly need to make eggs benedict to be able to call it a day.

My hands hurt as I was constantly turning the mixing bowl over the bain-marie and beating the egg yolks at the same time to incorporate air trying so hard not to cook the yolks. As I slowly poured the clarified butter into the yolk mixture to make the emulsion, Chef suddenly approached me and asked;

Chef: What is an emulsion?

Me: I guess chef it is an oil based mixture combined with another liquid.

Chef: It is a mixture of two liquids that are immiscible; something that is not supposed to be together or not meant to combine, but with the proper execution of methods and technique it can still be done and it makes great results.

Me: (Aww)

I just don’t know, but I thought I can relate to my hollandaise (haha).

- Sedd

Recipe for Eggs Benedict:

Ingredients:

1 poached egg

1 sliced bread, toasted

cooked ham

butter

Hollandaise Sauce:

1 packet butter, clarified

8 peppercorns, crushed

1/2 onion, brunoise

2 pcs. bay leaves

2-3 pcs. parsely stalks

2 tbsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. tarragon

1 cup water

3 egg yolks

1 tsp.white pepper

1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp. lemon juice

Preparation:

Clarify butter over low heat. Keep it warm but not hot. Meanwhile, combine peppercorns, onion, bay leaves, parsley stalks, white vinegar and tarragon in a saucepan and pour in 1 cup of water. Reduce mixture to 30ml and pass the diluted reduction through a fine sieve into a stainless steel bowl. Add egg yolks to the bowl and whisk. Hold the bowl over a hot-water bath and continue to whisk until it doubles and becomes fluffy. When it is ready, remove bowl from heat and pour in clarified butter slowly while continuously beating the mixture. When the sauce is ready, season with white pepper, worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. 

Place bread in a baking sheet. Spread butter, then top with ham, poached egg and then the sauce. Put in a salamander or oven for one minute or until the sauce colors into golden brown. Serve hot.

Serves 2