French cuisine is famous for its variety of flavors and a large number of sauces, which can both spice up the dish and hide some small mistakes made by the cook.
Classical
The classic Bearn sauce, the recipe of which is proposed below, is one of the five most important and common gravy of this country's cuisine. At the same time, French chefs divide their sauces into two categories: universal, as well as those that are served specifically to a particular dish.
Bearnsky belongs to the first group, it goes well with both meat and poultry. It can be served hot and cold. Before proceeding to the description of the recipe, we distinguish two features of the preparation of sauce:
- in order to achieve its true taste, it is worth giving preference to fresh seasonings;
- you need to get a thermometer in order to regulate the temperature of the oil. Since overheating it, you can quickly spoil the sauce.
Sauce
So, for cooking you will need:
- 2 tbsp. tablespoons of fresh tarragon (if it is dried, then add only 1 tbsp.spoon);
- 1 branch of chervil (we need only the petals);
- half a bunch of parsley;
- 1 shallot (can be replaced with onions, but then cut it and add only 1. tbsp. Spoon);
- 3 champignons (large);
- half a bunch of chives;
- a pinch of pepper, salt and 10 grains of black pepper ;
- 5 eggs;
- 200 ml of white wine;
- 250 g butter;
- ½ tbsp tablespoons of lemon juice (best freshly squeezed).
Bearn sauce is believed to be made primarily from eggs and butter, but if you try it, you will probably realize that each component is equally important, and the absence of any one has a great effect on taste. The herbs that are part of the composition are spicy, which is why the taste of gravy has a very specific, but at the same time wonderful.
Classic cooking
Starting to make Bearn sauce, remember that in finished form it should be thick and uniform, like mayonnaise.
- French cooks begin by preparing herbs, sorting them out and picking off the necessary petals.
- Then they are finely chopped and laid out in different containers.
- Pepper grains are crushed with the back of a knife or a spoon.
- Shallots are cut into thin half rings.
- All this is added to white wine and brought to a boil. Cook over low heat until the volume becomes half as much. Now, while all this cools, you need to separate the squirrels from the yolks.
- Through a fine sieve, pour our cooled spiced wine into a container with yolks. Then we take a large enough pan (one that is suitable for a water bath), fill it with water and let it boil. Mix the mass with yolks and wine (directly in the water bath) so that the resulting consistency looks like cream for a cake. As a result, the volume should double.
- Constantly stirring, pour the pre-melted butter into a mass with yolks with a thin stream. It is very important not to stop interfering throughout this process. After 5-6 minutes, you can add the remaining finely chopped herbs and salt to taste.
Alternative cooking method
Bearn sauce can also be prepared in a slightly different way, but using all the same ingredients.
- First, very finely chopped onions, simmer on low heat in white wine vinegar or wine. At the same stage, add black ground pepper. We wait until the liquid in the pan decreases by about 80%. It is worth noting once again that you need to stir all the time and very carefully!
- Setting the pan aside, we proceed to the next step: mix the yolks with oil. Pour the remaining wine vinegar into the same mass through a sieve, in which onions were prepared. We mix everything.
- Bearn sauce is easy to fold, so a steam bath is a must.
- We bring the pot of water to a boil, and then turn off the fire immediately. In boiling water, slowly lower the container with the future sauce and mix very intensely.
- Once it begins to thicken, you need to add the butter, which you previously cut into small pieces.
- Once the oil has dissolved, chopped chervil and tarragon can be added.
Bearn sauce. What to eat and how to serve
As mentioned above, this sauce is very versatile and is suitable for many dishes. It is usually served with asparagus or cauliflower. In France, bearn sauce is often presented to the steak on the bone. This is because the delicate texture makes the meat a little softer, and the spices saturate it.
The sophistication of this simple gravy will never drown the taste of a fish dish, since the herbs in it perfectly complement both hard seafood and soft seafood. Bearn sauce goes well with Benedict eggs instead of regular Dutch. It can even be offered for breakfast, for example, with hot sandwiches.
Tips
• If in the process you noticed that your Bearn sauce is slightly stratified, you need to add 3-4 ice cubes to the sauce and beat.
• The cooking temperature must not exceed 60 °. Otherwise, you get a simple omelet. On the other hand, if the temperature is lower, the sauce will not thicken and will acquire a very unpleasant odor.
• A whipped yolk can be poured into a heterogeneous or too liquid gravy, and then you need to rub the mass through a sieve again.
• The sauce is stored for no more than three days in the refrigerator, at room temperature it is better to keep it for about 6-7 hours.
• Only need to be heated in a water bath.
Conclusion
Now you know how to cook Bearn sauce, which herbs to use, and also what to combine with. We hope that thanks to our advice you can cook it yourself.