béarnaise sauce

Béarnaise sauce

Béarnaise sauce (French: Sauce béarnaise) IPA: [be.aʁ.nɛz] ^[1] is a sauce made of clarified butter and egg yolks flavored with tarragon and shallots, with chervil and tarragon simmered in vinegar to make a reduction. "A Béarnaise sauce is simply an egg yolk, a shallot, a little tarragon vinegar, and butter, but it takes years of practice for the result to be perfect," wrote the restaurateur Fernand Point (1897-1955) in Ma Gastronomie. It is a traditional sauce for steak.^[2]

History

The sauce was likely first made by the chef Collinet, the inventor of puffed potatoes (pommes de terre soufflées) and served at the 1836 opening of "Le Pavillon Henri IV", a restaurant at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, not far from Paris. Evidence for this is reinforced by the fact that the restaurant was named for King Henry IV, a gourmet himself, who was born in the former province of Béarn.

The sauce has appeared on US restaurant menus since 1882,^[3] if not earlier.

Preparation

Like Hollandaise sauce, Béarnaise sauce is an emulsion of butter in egg yolks. The difference is only in their flavoring: Béarnaise uses a reduction of vinegar and tarragon, while Hollandaise uses lemon juice. Such emulsions require some practice to prepare properly. The prime dangers are curdling the egg yolk mixture through excessive heat, and separation of the emulsion by rushing the addition of clarified butter. The ingredient list for beurre blanc sauce, another closely related emulsion, differs from Béarnaise sauce only by the lack of tarragon and egg yolks.

Variations of the recipe may call for using red wine vinegar, complementing vinegar with a white wine, using regular (solid, non-clarified) butter or replacing chervil with parsley ^[4].

Misspellings and misusages

Béarnaise sauce is frequently (and erroneously) referred to as Bernaise sauce, (even by francophones), or Bernoise sauce, or even Bernese sauce^{[citation needed]}. The latter three names mean pertaining to Berne, the capital city of Switzerland, in no way connected with this sauce or its origins.

Sometimes erroneously pronounced "Bayonnaise"^{[citation needed]}.

References

1. ^ w:wiktionary:fr:béarnais
2. ^ Julia Child (1961), Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Alfred A. Knopf
3. ^ "Jas. II. Breslin & Bro's. Hotel," Brighton Beach, NY, menu dated June 15, 1882: "Sirloin Steak, ... à la Béarnaise."
4. ^ What is the proper way to make a Béarnaise Sauce?

External links

• A recipe

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Bearnaise sauce