macrakis@harvard.UUCP (Stavros Macrakis) (01/19/86)
I must strongly take issue with colleague Jackson's encomium to Knorr `hollandaise' sauce: ...she was an Eggs Benedict connoisseur and I hadn't the slightest idea how to make hollandaise sauce. Knorr to the rescue! ... she still swears that it is the best sauce she has ever tasted... I find that its taste and texture are all wrong (in particular, if I remember correctly, it contains heaps of (corn?)starch). A Sauce hollandaise contains only butter, egg yolk, lemon, salt and pepper. And it really isn't that difficult to prepare. Just don't scramble the egg (keep the heat low). On an electric range, this is fairly easy. On a gas range, I find it more difficult; you can start out with a double boiler. Most cookbooks recommend that you use a whisk. Since whisks don't get into the corners of pots very well, I generally use a flat-ended wooden spoon. The easiest (but also the slowest) method of making fairly foolproof hollandaise is to start with your egg yolk and lemon juice in the pan, heating gently, and put a whole cold stick of butter in the pan. Stir with the butter. Bartley's Burger Cottage in Harvard Square makes excellent hamburgers and very good French fries, but their hollandaise (extra charge) is Knorr's. I returned it. -s
carl@bdaemon.UUCP (carl) (01/21/86)
> I must strongly take issue with colleague Jackson's encomium to Knorr > `hollandaise' sauce: > The New York Times cookbook has an almost foolproof recipe for *quick* hollandaise: Heat one stick butter to bubbling (do not let brown!!!!) In the meantime, put 3 egg yolks, one tablespoon lemon (adjust to your taste), a pinch of salt and a dash of Tabasco sauce in the blender. Blend well. When the butter is ready, *slowly* add to blender while it is running at high speed. That's it. Cheers. Carl
wfi@rti-sel.UUCP (01/22/86)
In article <627@harvard.UUCP> macrakis@harvard.UUCP (Stavros Macrakis) writes: >I must strongly take issue with colleague Jackson's encomium to Knorr >`hollandaise' sauce: > > ...she was an Eggs Benedict connoisseur and I hadn't the slightest > idea how to make hollandaise sauce. Knorr to the rescue! ... she > still swears that it is the best sauce she has ever tasted... Packaged hollandaise is an abomination. If you're going to do in your cardiovascular system, you might as well enjoy it! :-) >And it really isn't that difficult to prepare. Just don't scramble >the egg (keep the heat low). ... >put a whole cold stick of butter in the pan. ... Yup. It isn't hard to make good hollandaise. It isn't that hard to make ANYTHING if you get a good, readable cookbook and follow its instructions scrupulously. People get into trouble when they tell themselves, "Well, I really don't see the reason for this step, and I don't see why I can't use half a cup of ramafran instead of the geebortz..." Then they blame the recipe or the cookbook instead of their own 'creativity.' -- Cheers, Bill Ingogly
macrakis@harvard.UUCP (Stavros Macrakis) (01/22/86)
> The NYT cookbook has an almost foolproof recipe for *quick* hollandaise... > ... and a dash of Tabasco sauce in the blender. I've tried blender Hollandaises, and it's true they're fast, but in my experience, if the Hollandaise comes out thick enough, it's too much trouble to scrape more than half of it out of the blender. Same for mayonnaise (which I make either by hand (fork or whisk) or in the food processor). Does Hollandaise work in the food processor? I've never felt the need to try, since in the time you take to melt the butter, you have the Hollandaise; and without a dishwasher, I try to use few utensils. Anyway, what's the Tabasco doing in there? -s
jens@moscom.UUCP (Jens Fiederer) (01/28/86)
A microwave is not bad for making hollandaise, either. Just have it stop every 15 seconds or so to allow you to stir. By the way, just because Knorr's is a mock hollandaise does not necessarily mean it is bad...while I have never tried Knorr's as such, I have had Bearnaise which was not REAL Bearnaise, and found it pleasant. I think the problem is mostly that when you are promised one thing, and you get something else, you will be disappointed regardless of the absolute quality of the latter (this, of course, assumes you were expecting the former with p l e a s a n t anticipation). Azhrarn