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Sauce Hollandaise

A buttery mushroom sauce flavored with sherry, parsley, and broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and sherry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Sauce Hollandaise

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, rub together the butter and flour until well combined.

  2. Heat over medium until it begins to change color.

  3. Add the broth, parsley, and mushrooms, stirring constantly.

  4. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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. Mushroom + sherrytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,176 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Parsley + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and giving the sauce a smooth mouthfeel.
Flour
Thickens the sauce when cooked with butter and broth, giving it body.
Broth
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding savory depth.
Mushrooms
Contribute earthy flavor and savory umami to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring while adding the broth. Adding liquid to a flour and butter mixture without constant stirring can form lumps, because starch grains clump before they hydrate evenly. Keep stirring so the sauce thickens smoothly.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, mushroom, sherry. 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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