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Sauce

Never-fail Hollandaise Sauce

A sauce made from egg yolks, butter, salt, cayenne, and lime juice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Never-fail Hollandaise Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Over low heat, melt butter or margarine and allow to cool.

  2. Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Add salt and cayenne.

  3. Gradually add melted butter, while beating briskly by hand, or on high speed in electric beater, blending each addition well before the next.

  4. Alternate with teaspoonfuls of lime juice and continue until smooth.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

197Calories
7 gProtein
17 gFat
5 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Butter + limetop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + limetop 34% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,658 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce and form its rich, emulsified body as they are beaten.
Butter or margarine
Adds fat and richness, and gives the sauce its smooth, creamy texture.
Lime juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and egg flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the melted butter. Butter must be added gradually while beating, with each addition blended in before the next. Adding it too fast can break the emulsion, so the sauce separates and turns greasy instead of smooth.

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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