Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients
3 large egg yolks
1 ¹⁄₂ tablespoons cold water
¹⁄₂ cup butter, melted and warm
1 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions
1. Off the heat, whisk together yolks and water in the top of a double boiler (or metal bowl on top of a saucepan, whatever you’ve got) until they become light and frothy. Place the top of the double boiler or the bowl over - not in - barely simmering water and whisk until the eggs are thickened, 2 to 4 minutes, being careful not to let the eggs get too hot. (The eggs always seem to surprise me when they thicken. They’re normal and then BAM, thickened and I freak out that I’ve cooked them too long. So don’t freak out, just remove from the heat and keep whisking.)

2. Remove the pan or bowl from over the water and whisk to slightly cool the mixture. Whisking constantly, add the butter very slowly. Stir in lemon juice along with salt and pepper to taste.

Comments
This is a basic Hollandaise Sauce recipe from Joy of Cooking.  I’ve made Béarnaise Sauce many times, which is just a tarragon flavored Hollandaise, but I’d never made plain Hollandaise sauce before!  It is extremely simple and quick to bring together, I don’t know why it always seems so scary to me.  It amazes me how yellow the sauce is because of the brightness of local egg yolks. 

Shown here in the form of Eggs Benedict – toasted English muffin, baked local bacon, poached egg, and delicious Hollandaise Sauce.

Joy of Cooking (1997)