Name: Sous Vide Hollandaise
Total time: 55 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar; 1 large shallot , sliced thin; 10 tablespoons unsalted butter; 5 large egg yolks , lightly beaten; ¼ cup water; 2 teaspoons lemon juice; ½ teaspoon salt

Why This Recipe Works

Hollandaise, one of the five mother sauces of French cuisine, is a brunch classic—and it can be a mother to make. It is an egg-emulsified butter sauce that is similar to mayonnaise in many respects, but must be kept warm to keep the butter fluid. There are a lot of ways to make hollandaise; the most traditional preparations involve a lot of time and temperature-sensitive whisking, double boilers, and stress that could ruin your mellow Sunday brunch vibe. Fret not, we've got you covered with this easy sous vide hollandaise. We started by making a quick reduction with white wine vinegar and shallots, which we then combined with egg yolks, butter, water, lemon juice, and salt in a zipper-lock bag. The short 12-minute sous vide bath at 167°F is conveniently the same time and temperature that we use to cook our Soft-Poached Eggs. Eggs Benedict, anyone?

Before You Begin

For more about sous vide cooking, refer to our sous vide guide.

Instructions

Using sous vide circulator, bring water to 167°F/75°C in 7-quart container. In small saucepan, combine vinegar and shallot and bring to boil over high heat. Cook until vinegar is reduced by half, about 1 minute. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over small bowl, pressing on shallots to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard shallots.

Combine vinegar reduction, butter, egg yolks, water, lemon juice, and salt in 1-quart zipper-lock freezer bag. Seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible. Gently lower bag into prepared water bath until mixture is fully submerged, and then clip top corner of bag to side of water bath container, allowing remaining air bubbles to rise to top of bag. Reopen 1 corner of zipper, release remaining air bubbles, and reseal bag. Cover and cook for at least 12 minutes or up to 30 minutes.

Transfer mixture to blender and process until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of blender jar as needed. Serve immediately.