Bearnaise Butter Recipes

Steps:

• Place 1 cup tarragon, shallots, and peppercorns in a saucepan. Pour in white wine vinegar, white wine, and water. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer; stir. Reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer and reduce liquid to about 3 tablespoons, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Strain into a bowl through a fine mesh strainer, pressing vegetable/herb mixture to extract as much liquid as possible.
• Place 1/4 cup chopped tarragon and capers in a mortar. Mash with a pestle about 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon cold butter. Mash and pound with pestle until ingredients are thoroughly combined in a solid mass. Transfer to a piece of plastic wrap; wrap and chill.
• Place egg yolks in a stainless steel (flameproof) mixing bowl; add 3 tablespoons tarragon/shallot reduction; whisk together. Add cold butter cubes. Place bowl over low to medium heat whisking constantly until sauce thickens, as you hold the bowl with a kitchen towel. After butter melts continue whisking; mixture will turn a lighter yellow color after 8 to 10 minutes. When mixture is nice and thick, reduce heat to low and stir in compound butter broken into chunks. Continue whisking. Remove from heat. Season with salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.

Steps:

• Whisk egg yolks, black pepper, tarragon Dijon mustard, tarragon vinegar, water, and salt in a metal mixing bowl or small saucepan. Place over low heat and whisk until mixture foams, small wisps of steam appear from the sauce, and sauce is hot and thick, 1 to 2 minutes. Raise and lower the pan over the heat to increase or reduce heat.
• Remove from heat and whisk a few more seconds to make sauce slightly fluffy. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• Put the vinegar, shallots, black pepper and 1 tablespoon of tarragon leaves into a small saucepan, and set over a medium flame. Bring just to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer until there are only a few tablespoons of liquid left, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool.
• Fill a small saucepan with an inch or two of water, and set over medium-high heat to boil.
• Put the cooled shallot-and-tarragon mixture into a metal mixing bowl along with a tablespoon of water and the egg yolks, then whisk to combine.
• Turn the heat under the saucepan of water down to its lowest setting, and put the bowl on top of the pan, making sure that it does not touch the water directly. Continue to whisk the yolks until they thicken, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. You should just about double the volume of the yolks.
• Slowly beat in the butter, a tablespoon or two at a time, whisking slowly to combine and emulsify. Remove the bowl from the pan occasionally, so as not to overcook the eggs, and taste the sauce. Season with salt. If the flavor is not sharp enough, add a splash of lemon juice. If the sauce is too thick, stir in a splash of hot water. Add the remaining teaspoon of tarragon leaves, and serve.

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring vinegar, shallot, and tarragon to a boil. Cook until liquid has reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 4 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Rinse out saucepan, and return strained vinegar.
• Add egg yolks and 2 tablespoons water. Cook, over low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and forms thick ribbons, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Whisk in butter, if sauce gets too hot (it starts to bubble), remove from heat and whisk in a piece of butter. Continue whisking until all the butter has been absorbed, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately transfer to a bowl to stop further cooking. Season with salt. Use immediately, or keep warm over a pan of barely simmering water.

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, gently melt the butter, over low heat, and bring to a simmer. As the butter is gently simmering, skim off the froth that accumulates on the surface of the butter. Simmer the butter for about 15 minutes, cool and ladle off the clear butterfat, leaving any milk solids in the bottom of the pan. This is clarified butter! Wow-who knew?
• In a small saute pan combine the vinegar, white wine, peppercorns and shallots. Cook over medium heat until the liquid has almost all evaporated. Remove from the heat, add 1 large ice cube and let it melt. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a medium-sized metal bowl. Add the 3 egg yolks and whisk vigorously to combine.
• Put the metal bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Whisk the eggs until fluffy, about 5 minutes. While whisking slowly drizzle in the clarified butter. Start with a couple drops at a time. If the eggs seem to be cooking too quickly, remove the saucepan from the heat. The idea of what is going on here, is that the eggs are being cooked ever so gently into a frothy, foamy deliciousness, not a scrambled curdled mess. Once all of the butter has been whisked in, add the fresh tarragon, and a pinch of cayenne. Season with kosher salt, to taste.
• The sauce should be very full flavored, foamy and delightfully yellow. Serve on a big fat steak and call yourself a superstar!

Steps:

• Place shallots, vinegar, half of tarragon, and half of parsley in small saucepan. Simmer over medium-high heat until vinegar is reduced to 3 tablespoons, about 3 minutes. Strain into small bowl, pressing on solids to release any liquid. Discard solids; cool tarragon vinegar.
• Mix butter, lemon peel, and remaining chopped tarragon and parsley in medium bowl to blend. Mix in cooled tarragon vinegar. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before using.)

Steps:

• Cook the first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat for 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to 1 tablespoons
• Remove from heat, and cool for 10 minutes.
• Stir in butter and the remaining ingredients. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Steps:

• Make the bearnaise reduction first. In a small saucepan, combine the tarragon, shallots, vinegar and wine over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
• Blend yolks and bearnaise reduction together. With the blender running, add 1/3 of the butter in a slow steady stream. Once it emulsifies, turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper and set aside in a warm spot to hold the sauce.

Steps:

• Boil wine, shallot and dried tarragon in small saucepan until liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes. Cool completely.
• Mix butter and fresh tarragon into shallot mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Form butter mixture into log; wrap in plastic and chill until firm. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.) Cut butter into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Bring to room temperature before continuing.
• Brush large nonstick skillet with oil; heat over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper; add to skillet. Cook to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Overlap butter slices atop steaks and serve.

Steps:

• Place the white wine, white-wine vinegar, shallots, 2 tablespoons tarragon, and the peppercorns in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, and cook until it is reduced to about 2 tablespoons.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Keep warm until ready to use.
• Place egg yolks in a copper or stainless-steel bowl that fits snugly in the top of a medium saucepan. Fill the saucepan with 2 inches of water, and bring to a boil. Whisk the yolks, off the heat, until they become pale. Add wine mixture and salt, and whisk until well combined. Gradually add 1/4 cup boiling water, whisking constantly. Place bowl over the medium saucepan of boiling water; reduce heat to lowest setting. Whisking constantly, cook until whisk leaves a trail in the mixture and sauce begins to hold its shape. Remove from heat.
• Pour the warm, melted butter into a glass measuring cup. Add to yolk mixture, one drop at a time, whisking constantly. After you have added about a tablespoon of the melted butter, you can begin to add it slightly faster, still whisking constantly. Still, be careful: If the butter is added too quickly, the emulsion will be too thin or will "break" (separate).
• Once all of the butter has been added, adjust the seasoning with the lemon juice, and stir in the remaining tarragon. If the bearnaise becomes too thick, you may thin it with a little additional lemon juice or water. If not serving immediately, place pan of sauce over a pot of simmering water that has been removed from heat, or in a warm spot on the stove for up to 1 hour. Alternatively, you may store for up to 3 hours in a clean thermos that has been warmed with hot but not boiling water.

Steps:

• Using a fork, combine softened butter, tarragon, shallot (or you can use minced garlic and a bit of minced onion to substitute if you don't have shallots on hand), lemon juice, and salt.
• Mix well.
• Using a sheet of wax paper, shape into a log, twist ends tightly and chill for about an hour, until firm.
• Season steaks with pepper and a bit of oil and grill.
• Top hot steaks with a generous slice of butter and serve.
• Leftover butter can be stored in the frige for about a week, tightly wrapped.

Steps:

• Put the egg yolks in a mini food processor and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne, then add the vinegar.
• Finely chop the tarragon stalks and leaves separately. Melt the butter in a pan then add the chopped tarragon stalks and bring it to a simmer - the butter needs to be hot so that it will cook the egg yolks slightly.
• Turn the processor on and add the hot melted butter slowly while the processor is running. Once all the butter has been added and the mixture is smooth and thick, pour it into a bowl and stir through the tarragon leaves. Season and serve with steak.