The Search for a Non-Broken Hollandaise: Eggs Florendict

This is week number the 5th at Le Cordon Bleu.  Only one week left in this term - OH MY!  How time flies.  By this time I have pretty much mastered my classical knife cuts.  For vegetables: batonnet (small dice), julienne (brunoise), and julienne fin (brunoisette).  For potatoes (same sizes, different names - way to make things difficult): pont neuf, migonette, allumette, and paille.  Oh yes, and I currently have about a 50% success rate with the tourne potatoes and turnips. Yipee!  For onions and shallots I have the emincer (sliced) and ciseler (minced) cuts down.  A special cut we learned in class was the Dent de Loup meaning "Wolves Teeth."

It's like a little lemon basket!  So silly, but Chef told us that it is just important to have knife time.  Other than knife cuts we have covered measurements and conversions pretty thoroughly - still my least favorite part.  We watched demonstrations on how to make Les Fonds (basic stocks), a roux (used for thickening), and the five Les Sauces Meres or "Mother Sauces."  These sauces are the basis for all of the other sauces you would make in the kitchen. They are veloute, bechamel, tomate, espagnole, and hollandaise.  Right now we are in the midst of learning Les Cuissons.  There are seven classic cooking methods: rotir, griller, poeler, sauter, braiser, frire, and pocher.  Luckily, the English names for these methods do not differ much from the French ones - so you can plainly see that we are learning the basics here.  

Yesterday on my way home from school, snow blowing into my face, dragging my suitcase filled with books and my knife kit through the middle of the slushy street, and knowing that today would most certainly be another snow day - I made a stop at the store.  For one: I would NOT want to be going out in a storm to pick up food.  For two: mayonnaise (an emulsion sauce) will be a part of my final exam next week - and I STILL have not practiced my emulsions.  I decided to make Eggs Benedict which would include my hollandaise sauce (an emulsion) and a poached egg; two things I have never attempted before! 

A couple of notes (you know how I love notes):

1. I did not ACTUALLY make Eggs Benedict.  No Canadian bacon on this creation.  Instead I substituted spinach.  To this you may say, "That's Eggs Florentine!"  Wrong.  Eggs Florentine: forget the muffin and bacon, throw the egg onto the spinach, and cover with Mornay sauce (a friend of Mr. Hollandaise).  Do not fret - I had no idea either.

2. Hollandaise requires that you place a stainless steel bowl in a bain marie (container with simmering water), in order to keep it warm, but not TOO warm.  Well, I do not have anything that remotely resembles that.  Look at what I did instead (and it worked):

3. Another song to rock out to in the kitchen :)

Eggs Florendict 


Serves: 4
Difficulty: Medium
Cook time: Approximately 30 minutes


Ingredients:


4 English muffins
32 oz uncooked spinach
8 eggs
Butter
Vinegar
Salt


Hollandaise
2 oz water
8 to 10 crushed black peppercorns (or a few shakes of pepper)
4 egg yolks
8 oz (1 cup or 2 sticks) melted butter (if you are ambitious enough, clarify it!)
Salt
White Pepper
Cayenne pepper
Lemon juice


Cooking Directions:


Bring the water and peppercorns to a boil in a small saucepan and reduce by about one-quarter. Strain this water into a clean saucepan through a sieve or some cheesecloth.

Separate the yolks of 4 eggs and whisk into the water.  Place the saucepan over a bain marie (water simmering) and begin to whisk the eggs.  The eggs will first become frothy - keep whisking!  Once the egg mixture begins to become dense and stick to the whisk when lifted, remove the saucepan from the bain marie.   

Here is the tricky part: very SLOWLY begin to pour the butter into the eggs.  Continue to whisk.  Start with a  few drips of butter, then work into a gradual and steady stream.  If you accidentally pour too much butter, STOP POURING, continue to whisk the mixture until that butter is incorporated, and then you can start adding the butter again.

Once all of the butter has been incorporated into the sauce - you have an EMULSION!  Hooray!!! :)  Now you may season your sauce with a squeeze of lemon, salt, white pepper, and a bit of cayenne pepper.  To hold the hollandaise on the side, set it upon a very low simmering bain marie.

Warm some butter in a pan and saute the your spinach.  Set aside

Broil your English muffins, spread a bit of butter on top.  Top the English muffins with a small bed of spinach.

Bring a small saucepan of water, vinegar, and salt to a gentle simmer.  Once simmering, poach your eggs (one at a time).  To do this, crack the egg into a small bowl or container.  Then gently pour the egg into the simmering water.  Use a spoon to nudge the whites over the yolk (also, you may have a fancy ring to make your poached eggs perfectly shaped - go for it!).  

Use a slated spoon to remove the egg and place it on top of the spinach.  Once you have the two muffin halves, complete with spinach and poached eggs - ladle the hollandaise on top. Yummmmm.......

Afterthoughts:

1. Let's be real - I don't have white pepper.  For the look of the hollandaise sauce you are not supposed to have black specks (I won't tell if you won't).

2. I took a RIDICULOUS amount of time adding the butter into the egg yolks. I really did not want this sauce to break.  So if it's your first time, you will be successful if you are a bit neurotic.

This was my first try at an emulsion. This was my first shot at hollandaise.  I did NOT break the sauce!  I was on a high for the rest of the night....or maybe it was all the butter :)