The land of clogs and windmills

I know that many people consider it to be the most important meal of the day, but I often skip breakfast, or end up eating just a slice of toast or a pastry.

It’s a habit that I want to change, so I’m experimenting with some classic breakfast recipes. You can’t get much more classic than this mornings dish of eggs benedict, which is quick, easy and is just a fantastic combination of flavours.

The thing that makes eggs benedict special, and not just a bit of ham and egg on toast is the hollandaise sauce. It’s also the only thing that makes the dish remotely tricky to prepare.

What’s in a name?

Hollandaise sauce isn’t from Holland. It’s a French sauce dating from the 17th century that was originally called Sauce Isigny, and named after Isigny-Sur-Mer, a town in Normandy, and famous for the quality of its butter.

During the first world war, France couldn’t produce its own butter, and instead imported it from Holland. The name of the sauce was changed to Hollandaise (meaning Holland style), and has stuck ever since.

A classic sauce

A classic Hollandaise is an emulsified sauce, made of egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice. It is one of the five ‘mother sauce’ in French cooking, as they were defined by Monsieur Escoffier.

Some modern recipes use white wine vinegar in place of the lemon juice, and any vinegar would probably work (with the exception of malt vinegar), although this will obviously completely change the flavour.

I stick with the lemon juice, and since I don’t bother to measure it but just throw it in, I probably use too much, but I really like the freshness and citrusy flavour.

There are (as with everything) a number of variations on the basic recipe, like Foaming Hollandaise, which involves adding egg whites, which have been whipped to form soft peaks, to the finished sauce.

Basic Hollandaise recipe

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan until it is nice and hot, but before it starts to cook and darken in colour. Whilst it is foaming, use a ladel or metal spoon to scoop off the foam and scum from the surface and discard it.

2. Take a bowl and set it over a pan of gently simmering water. Put the egg yolks and lemon juice into this bowl and whisk them together, until the mixture thickens slightly and starts to turn paler in colour.

3. If the egg and lemon juice mixture starts to turn grainy, then add a very small amount of ice cold water, and keep whisking.

4. Pour the melted butter into the mixture slowly and steadily, whisking all the time.

5. When all of the butter has been incorporated into the mixture, remove it from the heat, and season with salt and pepper to taste.