Pro tip: After three years of my hollandaise breaking, I finally nailed it by whisking over a bowl of ice water instead of direct heat.

Last week at the bistro, I got through a 50-cover brunch rush without a single sauce failure, which felt like a huge personal win after so much frustration.

3 comments

3 Comments

wells.christopher2d ago

My old chef in New Orleans swore by a double boiler with the water just barely steaming. Wonder if the ice water trick works better for home stoves with less even heat?

eva_moore2d ago

My first attempt at hollandaise looked more like scrambled eggs with butter... a real fancy breakfast disaster. The double boiler method always felt like a high-stakes balancing act I was bound to fail. Keeping the bowl over ice water is the only thing that forgives my terrible timing and a stove that heats like a dragon's breath in one spot. It's a method for the clumsy, and I am its perfect student.

maxl932d ago

Man, that ice water trick is smart. My buddy tried to teach me to make hollandaise once and it was a total mess. He kept yelling about "emulsification" while I stared at a bowl of yellow soup. We ended up ordering pizza. Some things just aren't worth the fight.