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Hollandaise sauce is better known to the world as “hollandaise”. This is a classic sauce of the French culinary tradition. Its main ingredient is egg yolks. Dutch is part of most French dishes and is served by default in every restaurant of this cuisine.
What you need to know about the product, how to cook it and with what to combine egg sauce?
General product characteristics
Hollandese is attributed to the base sauces of French cuisine (they are also called “mother”). The same category includes bechamel, vinaigrette, French mayonnaise, demiglas and velout. Each of them can be used to dress salads / main courses or to prepare more complex sauces. Hollandese most often serves as the basis for shoron sauce or bearnes sauce, and Benedict eggs, covered with several tablespoons of sauce, have become a real classic of French breakfasts.
The French like to name national sauces after different countries, cities and specific territories. The original “hollandaise sauce” never existed in the Netherlands itself, although its name clearly refers to this particular area. Experts say that “Dutch” is the idea of the French themselves about foreign guests when serving national cuisine.
The basic components of Dutch are egg yolks and butter. The product is served with vegetables, fish, meat and eggs benedict. The finished sauce is characterized by a pale lemon tint and a matte sheen, despite the abundance of oil in the composition. Its structure is delicate and homogeneous, and oily accents predominate in the aroma.
A Brief Historical Reference
The established name “Dutch” did not appear immediately. The product was originally called Isigny sauce. Its origin is related to the French commune of Isigny-sur-Mer, which was famous for the export of oil.
France suspended oil production during World War I. A valuable product had to be exported from Holland, and the name of the sauce and its production was decided to be changed to “Dutch” in order to avoid confusion in trade names and territorial affiliation.
In the XVII century, a Dutch recipe appeared, which does not lose popularity to this day. The prototype of the product is Danish or Flemish sauce, which fell on French soil thanks to the Huguenots. The base sauce was concentrated with eggs and a little oil to get a uniform consistency. The finished product was used as a sweet cream. Only a few centuries later, the Dutch recipe took on a clear outline, completely abandoning its thick structure and sweet taste.
Interesting: In 1651, Pierre de la Varennes published a cookbook. Among hundreds of French recipes, there is Dutch sauce served with asparagus and seasonal vegetables.
How to make traditional hollandaise sauce
We need:
- egg yolk – 2 pieces;
- white wine vinegar – 1 tablespoon;
- ground black pepper to taste;
- ghee (can be replaced with vegetable oil to taste) – 100 grams;
- cold water – 3 tablespoons;
- salt to taste;
- lemon.
Fill the saucepan with water at ⅓, put on a fast fire and bring to a boil. On top of the stewpan, set a wide metal bowl to create a water bath. Add yolks, 3 tablespoons of cold water, vinegar, a pinch of ground black pepper and a little salt to this bowl.
Remove the container from the fire, carefully beat the contents of the plate with a whisk. At this stage, it is necessary to pour ghee. Do not stop stirring the mixture with a whisk and gradually pour in a thin stream of oil.
Cut the lemon in half. Squeeze the juice from one half of it directly into the container with the egg yolks. Whisk the mixture thoroughly again. The consistency of the sauce should be thick, like heavy cream with a muted yellow hue. Try the dish – do you like the taste? If so, serve Dutch to guests (it is served warm), if not, add the necessary spices and beat the mixture again.
Tip: leave the sauce close to the included stove so that it does not cool down and maintain the necessary temperature for the meal.
If the product turned out to be too thick and saturated, add a little water until you achieve the perfect structure. What to do if the sauce has not thickened? This is usually due to the cook pouring in and mixing the oil into the mixture too quickly. What to do? To recover the error will have to be patient. Take a bowl for whisking, rinse it with hot water. Enter 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the finished sauce. Beat the mixture until it thickens and becomes creamy. Add the remaining sauce 1 tablespoon at a time and repeat until the entire batch thickens.
Useful and dangerous properties of the product
The main ingredients of Dutch are butter and eggs. How do they affect the human body and is it safe to introduce them into the diet?
What you need to know about butter?
Butter is a controversial product. Its traditional recipe provides for a huge amount of fat and “bad cholesterol”. Abuse of the product is fraught not only with obesity, but also with serious disorders of the cardiovascular system. But butter lovers can breathe a sigh of relief, because it has an alternative – ghee. This is ghee or clarified butter. It does not contain lactose, and milk protein (solid milk particles).
The secret of the product lies in the recipe. A bar of butter is simmered on fire at high temperatures. Heat treatment destroys protein impurities and moisture. The result is pure golden-hued fat. Ghee can be bought in Ayurvedic shops or prepared in your own kitchen – just warm up an oily bar and pass it through cheesecloth.
Benefits of ghee over butter:
- improves metabolism;
- increases the level of absorption of nutrients from food;
- normalizes memory and vision;
- “Lubricates” connective tissue and protects them from damage;
- starts cell regeneration and has a rejuvenating effect;
- increases body flexibility;
- the product is rich in retinol (vitamin A), tocopherol (vitamin E), nicotinic acid (PP), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg).
Important: the taste of ghee is completely identical to butter, so your taste buds will not notice the substitution.
What you need to know about chicken eggs?
Eggs are an ideal source of protein. They contain all 10 essential amino acids, a full line of B vitamins, as well as iodine (I) and iron (Fe). The product contains choline (vitamin B4) – it is involved in the creation of neurotransmitters that are responsible for memory sharpness.
Another important element is calciferol (vitamin D). The nutrient is necessary to maintain vital activity and the formation of new follicles. Calciferol provides not only beautiful and healthy hair, but also treats eczema / psoriasis, eliminates skin lesions such as abrasions, stretch marks and burns. Vitamin is especially important for the child’s body during the development of the skeletal system.
But nutritionists advise against including eggs in your daily diet. It is very difficult for the human body to fully absorb a protein product. Additional load falls on the kidneys and cell functionality (fraught with early aging). The optimal portion of the product is 4 pieces per week.
Moderate egg consumption really restores the balance of essential amino acids. Pennington’s Biomedical Research Center has proven that egg breakfast helps reduce hunger during the day. The product is not inferior in nutrition to even complex carbohydrates like sandwiches and bagels. Fat is responsible for the longest possible feeling of satiety.
How to eat eggs and dishes based on them? First, combine the product with herbs and starchy vegetables. Secondly, give preference to organic products. Thirdly, give preference to the yolks, as they contain the maximum concentration of nutrients.
Observe egg intake and do not accompany Dutch meals with each meal. Start a special tradition, for example, breakfast with Benedict eggs in Dutch sauce on Saturdays. Do not forget that the abuse of sauces will leave a mark not only on your waist, but also on your health. Form the right eating habits and be healthy!