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Bearnaise Sauce

A sauce made from shallots, tarragon, vinegar, Béchamel, egg yolks, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and tarragon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Bearnaise Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the reduction

  1. In a saucepan, combine the vinegar, shallots, and tarragon leaves. Cover and reduce the liquid to about one-eighth of the original quantity.

  2. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Add the Béchamel sauce and reheat.

Finish the sauce

  1. Stir in the egg yolks, seasoning with salt and Mignonette pepper. Whisk over low heat, gradually incorporating the butter.

  2. Do not allow the sauce to boil after adding the eggs. Strain through a fine cloth.

  3. Return to a clean saucepan and whisk again over hot water or in a bain-marie.

  4. Add the chopped parsley and tarragon leaves, then 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. Shallot + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify with the butter and thicken the sauce as they gently cook.
Butter
Adds richness and, emulsified into the yolks, gives the sauce its smooth body.
French wine vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and is reduced to concentrate the tarragon and shallot taste.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion-like aroma to the reduction.
Bechamel sauce
Adds body and stability, helping the sauce hold together and stay smooth.

The step that matters

Do not let the sauce boil after adding the eggs. Egg yolks scramble when they get too hot, which curdles the sauce and breaks the emulsion. Gentle heat over low or indirect warmth keeps it smooth and thick.

Swap the shallot

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

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Mustardfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against tarragon, wine, vinegar, egg, pepper, sauce, 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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