it's motherfucking HOLLANDAISE

I spent much of last summer drinking copiously with new friends, and was therefore in need of late-morning sustenance that was good for head pain and serious hunger and mild stomach unease. I discovered that Hattie's Hat in Ballard makes a great bloody mary, and I also discovered a dish I'd always feared due to my suspicion of egg yolks: eggs benedict.



Here's the thing: I have always hated hardboiled egg yolks. I assumed that this meant that the runny stuff was even worse and I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Poached eggs? Ecgh. Over easy? Yick. Get that goop away from me. Well, this summer, I was happily proved wrong and I spent a lot of time stuffing eggs sunny-side up and eggs benedict into my gaping maw. Eggs benedict is expensive, though, and I couldn't afford to out all the time. Moreover, some places make it from a powder and that's how it tastes-- and I certainly don't want to shell out $10 for a powdered version of my new favorite sauce.



Solution: make it at home! (requires one sous-chef who actually knows what the hell he's doing. then experiment at will.)

For a large batch (because you know you're inviting all your friends over for this) you will need:

3oz white wine
1 oz minced shallot
6 egg yolks
juice of one lemon
10 oz butter
cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste.

for the rest of the benedict, you know the drill: english muffin, some form of protein, poached egg.



We did ours with ahi:



Process explanation to follow, including some tips on poaching eggs, which is a bigger pain in the ass than actually making the sauce.