[Sca-cooks] Bearnaise Sauce adn etchings

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Also sprach Marilyn Traber:
>This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
>this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.
>--
>--
>[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
>if you go online and search recipes, you would be amazed at what people are
>calling bearnaise sauce...and some of the 'shortcuts' they suggest. Blech!
>
>margali
>the quote starts here:
>Is there another, significantly different, version, that is
>still Bearnaise sauce?
>--

Huh. Okay. I'd say that there are certain characteristics that make
Bearnaise sauce Bearnaise sauce, though, so there is presumably a
point of diversion beyond which the sauce is no longer Bearnaise.

For example, Muiredach mentioned Hellman's Mayo with dried tarragon
stirred in, and that obviously isn't what we're talkin' about.

I would say (speaking Ex Cathedra and all, omminy pomminy) that
Bearnaise should contain:

Vinegar and tarragon (either plain or tarragon vinegar, preferably
with fresh tarragon added in as well; lemon is not acceptable because
if you use lemon or lemon-and-vinegar, you have tarragon-flavored
hollandaise)

Yolks (non-negotiable)

Butter (clarified preferred; oil is not an acceptable substitute
because if you use oil it is mayonnaise)

Shallots (non-negotiable)

To me, the most obvious variations would be in whether you use
clarified butter, warmed just slightly, or whole butter, which you
have to add some heat to the mixture to melt...

Raymond Sokolov, in The Saucier's Apprentice, mentions a particularly
scary method he had encountered, in which the ingredients, all cold
except, possibly, the butter, which might be best slightly softened,
into a cold frying pan, place it on the heat, and beat until you have
sauce. I've never tried it, but I would bet it works. Not exactly
foolproof, maybe, but with enough experience to know _why_ you do
what you do, it probably works most of the time. Now this method was
actually for Hollandaise, but the sauce are sufficiently similar
that, once you've conquered the basic method, you can adapt it.

I'm sure there are all kinds of scary shortcuts and equivocations out
there in Internet-Land. I have, at best, mixed feelings about most of
them. Some are less harmful than others. I know that for most people,
Hollandaise is a sauce that goes over Eggs Benedict (note that I am
not calling this Oeufs Benedictine), involving, in the USA, poached
or fried eggs on top of Canadian Bacon (in this country, a mysterious
pork loin derivative that looks just a bit like cappicola; in Canada
it is loin or back bacon, and simply called, AFAIK, bacon), all
sitting on an English muffin half and covered with the aforementioned
(usually fake) Hollandaise. And you're supposed to eat this for
Sunday Brunch because it is fancy-schmancy, and you've probably
already had eleven Bloody Marys, so who cares?

In France, home of Oeufs Benedictine, they use a fried crouton cut
from French bread, ham (generally Bayonne, the real deal), the eggs
and real Hollandaise. Truffle slices, in this lax modern era, are
optional, but this would have caused raised eyebrows once upon a time.

Adamantius
--
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes
deserves to be called a scholar."
	-DONALD FOSTER