Bearnaise Sauce
Submitted by cwcdesign on March 16, 2011 at 5:33 pm

Delicious sauce with filet mignon or roast tenderloin
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Source: The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or tarragon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine
1 tablespoon chopped shallots
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 egg yolks
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Combine vinegar, wine, shallots and tarragon in a small saucepan. Place over high heat and boil until reduced by half. NOTE: I usually don't reduce it that much; personal preference. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

2. Melt butter.

3. Fill the bottom of a double boiler with water and bring almost to a boil. Lower heat so water is hot, not boiling.

4. Combine egg yolks and reserved shallot mixture in top of double boiler, and place over bottom. Gradually whisk in melted butter in a slow, steady stream. Continue whisking until sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Note: when the sauce has thickened you can put the pan in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. The sauce should not separate if you do it this way. This note is from the cookbook - I have not tried it, so cannot confirm.

comments
Submitted by annzie on Fri, 2011-03-18 12:51.
I use vermouth as the 'white wine' in making my bernaise, a la Julia Childs. And since I rarely if ever have shallots in the house, I substitute some finely diced onions. This is a fantastic sauce! My favorite use for it is to spread it over a cooked flank steak and put it under the broiler until it is bubbly. Then serve up the flank steak.