Any dish is instantly improved with a spray of béarnaise sauce, especially steak! It's a simple, 15-minute recipe that yields a beautiful, buttery emulsion with overtones of fresh tarragon.
I was thinking of the béarnaise sauce I always love to have at top-notch steakhouses as I was testing my go-to fillet mignon recipe.
If you're not familiar, béarnaise sauce is one of the five French mother sauces and is a version of hollandaise sauce. Less complicated and flavored with lemon, Dijon mustard, and a bit of cayenne pepper is the Hollandaise sauce. On the other hand, bearnaise sauce is a little more elegant and contains white wine, shallots, and tarragon.
Because béarnaise sauce is an emulsion, it is infamous for splitting if not whisked properly. But because I employed the same incredibly simple technique for my hollandaise sauce in the blender my version is entirely foolproof and guaranteed to succeed!
BÉARNAISE SAUCE INGRÉDIENT
- This dish is essentially my hollandaise sauce, but with infused vinegar and tarragon that has been diced. What you will need is as follows:
- Infused vinegar
- This is what gives the sauce its flavorful punch: infused vinegar! The only additional ingredients are a shallot, some tarragon, white wine vinegar, and dry white wine.
- Egg yolks
- The remaining ingredients for the bearnaise sauce are egg yolks, lemon juice, unsalted butter, a little more tarragon, and salt.
HOW TO MAKE BÉARNAISE SAUCE
Create the flavored vinegar. Wine, vinegar, shallot, and tarragon are heated in a small pot and brought to a boil. After that, lower the heat to a simmer and cook the mixture until it is reduced to about 112 tablespoons (about 5 to 7 minutes)
Using the back of a spoon to infuse the liquid with flavor, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve. Let it cool for five minutes while preparing the remaining sauce.
In the microwave, melt the butter for about a minute, or until it is very hot cover the cup or bowl, since it will splatter.
The egg yolks, infused vinegar, lemon juice, and salt should all be thoroughly blended after 5 seconds in a powerful blender.
Add the butter gradually. Slowly pour the heated butter through the top opening of the blender while it is running on medium-high until it forms an emulsion.
Insert new herbs. Pour the béarnaise sauce into a small bowl, toss in the tarragon that has been finely chopped, and serve immediately.
WAYS TO USE BÉARNAISE SAUCE
- Sprinkle over fish or pork. This is my favorite sauce to sprinkle on steak, baked chicken, and fish. But, you may use it to add a saucy touch to any cooked meat or fish!
- Cooked vegetables should be sauced. You'd be astonished at how delicious this is served over roasted vegetables like potatoes or broccoli similar to this roasted broccoli with hollandaise sauce.
- Make your Sunday breakfast better. With this béarnaise sauce, your eggs Benedict will taste even better!
Storage Tips
If at all possible, serve this sauce warm and fresh. If not, you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to two days in an airtight container. But watch out when reheating because the eggs might easily fry! Some alternatives for reheating are as follows:
- Use the microwave to warm up the béarnaise sauce by placing it in a glass bowl and heating it for 15 seconds at a time.
- On the hob, prepare a pan with the béarnaise sauce. To re-emulsify it, stir in a small amount of melted butter and water. Pour the sauce back into a bowl for dishing after it has warmed up.
Serving suggestions for béarnaise sauce
A highly common steak sauce is bearnaise, which is nearly always served in upscale steakhouses and traditional French bistros. Also, it goes very well with meat.
But give salmon a shot. With a capital I, it's incredible! The rich, fatty flavor of salmon pairs perfectly with the opulent texture and flavor of fresh tarragon.
How to keep sauce warm
Prepare everything in advance and cook while the protein is resting. I did this with salmon last weekend, and it was a no-brainer. Simply have the herbs chopped, the vinegar previously infused, the butter cut and in a jug ready to melt, and the jug and stick blender out and ready to use. Then, while the salmon was resting, it actually only took two minutes to blitz everything up;
Although I haven't done this for a gathering, I did it when taking the photos. Keep the finished sauce warm in a thermos. One hour later, it still looked and tasted as though it had just been made!
BÉARNAISE SAUCE (EASY & NO-FAIL)
Ingredients
INFUSED VINEGAR
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 1 small shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 ablespoon tablespoon tarragon leaves
BEARNAISE SAUCE
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter or ghee, melted and hot (add more for a thinner consistency)
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped tarragon leaves
Instructions
- Make the infused vinegar. Add the wine, vinegar, shallot, and tarragon to a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, until the liquid has reduced to about 1½ tablespoons (about 5 to 7 minutes).
- Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve, using the back of a spoon to extract as much flavor as possible into the liquid. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
- Melt the butter in a microwave (make sure sure the cup or bowl is covered as it will splatter) for about 1 minute, until it's hot. Alternatively, you could heat it on the stove.
- In a high-powered blender, add the egg yolks, infused vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Blend for 5 seconds until combined.
- Stream in the butter. With the blender running on medium-high, slowly stream the hot butter through the top lid cap opening and into the mixture until it's emulsified.
- Add fresh herbs. Pour the bearnaise sauce into a small bowl, stir in the finely chopped tarragon, and serve while warm.
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