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Sauce

Bearnaise Sauce

A sauce made from shallots, vinegar, white sauce, egg yolks, and butter, strained and served.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,547 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bearnaise Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Chop the shallots and place them in a saucepan with the vinegars. Boil until reduced to 1 tablespoon.

  2. Add the white sauce and mix well.

  3. Whisk in the egg yolks one at a time, ensuring each is well incorporated before adding the next. Do not let it boil.

  4. Remove the saucepan from heat and whisk in the butter in small pieces, ensuring each piece is fully melted before adding the next.

  5. Strain through muslin and serve.

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. Tarragon + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Tarragon + saucetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together566 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Tarragon + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,572 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Shallots (in the method)
Add a mild oniony aroma that infuses the reduced vinegar base.
Tarragon vinegar
Provides the sharp, aromatic acidity that defines the sauce's flavour.
White sauce
Adds body and helps the sauce hold together as it thickens.
Egg yolks
Emulsify with the butter and thicken the sauce into a smooth, rich texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that gives the sauce a glossy, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Whisking the egg yolks without boiling. Egg yolks begin to scramble and curdle when overheated, so the sauce must stay warm but not boil. Adding yolks one at a time lets each emulsify smoothly before the next goes in.

Swap the tarragon

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

  1. Tarragonthe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Parsleyfits less well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sauce, 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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