Hollandaise Sauce

3 egg yolks
1/2 stick of butter, cut up and ice cold
2 tablespoons of lemon juice - and if you're going to go through the trouble of making this, squeeze a fresh lemon

This recipe is all technique. And don't dream that you'll make it right the first time. It took me about 20 trys to get this right.

Whip up the egg yolks for a couple of minutes in a metal bowl. Add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice and whip some more. Once it's all mixed up, put it over a pan of simmering water. Whisk, whisk, and whisk - as the temperature of the egg yolks rises and they start to thicken. Then put in a small pat of cold butter. Whisk as it melts. Yeah, this gets tiring. If you overheat things, the egg yolks will cook - so keep throwing in cold butter - and pull the bowl off the heat if you see the eggs start to seize up. If you put the butter in too fast, it turns into an oil slick. But if you do it just right - it forms an emulsion like mayonnaise. As things get thick and fluffy, add more of the lemon juice.

You can add as much lemon juice as you like - go by taste. Also you can add fresh herbs, white wine, or really anything you like as flavor additions once you're done. I like to add white wine and dill when topping salmon. Tarragon and chives for eggs. A dash of salt is good, too.

One more thing, you'll probably notice that this is almost pure saturated fat. This stuff is evil - but sooo good. Unless you are related to a cardiologist, don't eat this stuff too often. Once you taste the real stuff, you won't want the fake stuff you get in most restaurants.

This stuff only keeps at about 130F - which is the ideal temperature for growing bacteria, and it is nutrient rich. There's no way to safely keep it around for more than about 30 minutes. That's why you can't get real Hollandaise in most restaurants - it's just too labor intensive to make a new batch for everyone who orders something.