My Attempt at Holland-Daze Sauce

I was inspired by today's lesson about Sauces, plus the fact that Chef Manoj in his own way "ordered" us to experiment on sauces at home. I experimented on making Hollandaise Sauce. To the uninformed, Hollandaise sauce is a butter based sauce, which is part of the 7 Mother Sauces. From the 7 Mother Sauces, which includes White, Brown, Butter, Tomato, Oil, Pureed, and Specialty Sauces - one can make a thousand and one derivative sauces. However, in order to make these sauces, one must first have an expertise of the 7 Mother Sauces.

Back to my Hollandaise, I could say that it was a good first try. I actually had 2 attempts at making the sauce. The first one - I turned into scrambled eggs, possibly because of the lack of liquid (vinegar reduction) or the heat was too high. Casualty Count: 2 egg yolks

Determined to get it right the second time around, I made sure that there was enough of the reduction for the egg yolks. I also started whisking my yolks a little below the required temperature of 80 degrees Celsius. After making these adjustments, I was finally successful in churning out a respectable (in my opinion) Hollandaise. Although I still think that its far from perfect, as I found the vinegar taste a tad bit overpowering, I'm very proud of my work. Here are the pictures from my practice session:

For those who would like to know how Hollandaise Sauce is made, here are the ingredients, mise en place, and method:

Ingredients:
Egg Yolks
Clarified Butter
Shallots
White Wine Vinegar
White Wine
Water
Bay Leaf
White Pepper
Lemon Juice
Cayenne Pepper
Salt

Mise En Place:
Chop shallots
Wash Eggs and separate the yolk from the egg whites
Clarify the Butter

Method:
1. Combine Shallots, white wine, white wine vinegar, bay leaf, water, and white pepper in the pot.
2. Boil the ingredients until the liquid almost evaporates (This is called a reduction)
3. Add a little bit of water
4. Strain the reduction and allow to cool
5.Prepare a water bath - Boil a pot of water to 80 degrees Celsius and place a bowl on top of it. This is where you will whisk the egg whites
6. Place the cooled reduction on the bowl
7. Combine the egg yolks with the reduction and whisk vigorously until the mixture is foamy and creamy
8. Pour your clarified butter in a slow steady stream and continue whisking vigorously. Your aim is to create an emulsion with the mixture
9. Season the sauce with lemon juice, salt, and cayenne pepper

Next time I'll probably have to work on my timing, as it took my almost 2 hours to make this sauce. But nevertheless, I'm happy with the end-result.