
This lusciously rich and smooth sauce will make most anything better. It could be eggs Benedict for breakfast, salmon or sole for lunch, chicken or steak for dinner and steamed asparagus as a side. I have heard the request: “Just bring me a bowl of Hollandaise and a spoon” on occasion.

One of the mother sauces, the 5 base sauces in French and much of modern cooking. A mother sauce is one that can be altered with other additions to create different sauces. A few well known ones are Mousseline sauce by adding unflavored whipped cream to lighten the sauce, Fleurette sauce is made by including a high fat cream in the process of whipping the eggs and Maltaise sauce by adding juice of blood orange as well as unnamed sauces by adding various fresh herbs.
Hollandaise sauce is not my invention and even Escoffier who is credited with a lot of the foundation of cooking was not the one who invented it. He does mention that with experience the cook/chef can alter the taste and texture of the sauce to fit the purpose or taste. The sauce goes back to 1651 according to some research.
As delicious as the sauce is, it does present some challenges in making it and while various tricks may be helpful, nothing is as useful as trial and error and making the sauce over and over a number of times.

We used to serve Hollandaise sauce at most restaurants I have worked at or owned and the sauce needed to be made fresh or brought back for every lunch and dinner service and sometimes for breakfast and brunch. That is a lot of practice to build forearms like Popeye the sailorman from whisking egg yolks. I have broken, burned, scrambled, over seasoned and spilled the sauce more times then I care to recount. Time and effort has allowed me to learn how to make it and fix it sometimes at a moments notice. If I can do it, well then anyone can.
Some of my favorite ways to serve Hollandaise are:
- Poached salmon with Hollandaise, sometimes mixing in dill or fresh horseradish
- Steamed asparagus – I can make a full meal out of this.
- Eggs Benedict which can be made with spinach, smoked salmon or lobster instead of Canadian bacon.
- Sauteed chicken breast with toppings like asparagus, artichoke hearts, mushrooms or other things.
- Veal Oscar topped with crab meat and white asparagus
And the list goes on. My recommendation is that you find out if you like it first of course, then pick a few items you would serve it on and keep making it a few times a week until you get comfortable with it. You can make a batch of the reduction to use and keep it in the refrigerator. It will be easier to just worry about the eggs and butter each time while making it.

I have included a few hints on how to fix and repair the sauce and minor mistakes at the end of the recipe.
The sauce has to be used when it it made – or refrigerated, which means redoing it next time. This is an excellent time to practice putting the sauce back together so you can fix it in case it breaks when you are making it.
A few weeks of Hollandaise sauce school and you too will have forearms like Popeye.