Two types of sauce are similar to each other but have different ingredients. The two are béarnaise and hollandaise. One is made with egg yolks, butter, and wine.
The other is made with egg yolks, lemon juice, and vinegar. It’s important to know how to make them in advance because they require time to make.
Key Takeaways
- Both bearnaise and hollandaise are French sauces made from butter, egg yolks, and flavorings.
- Bearnaise sauce contains tarragon and shallots, while hollandaise sauce contains lemon juice and cayenne pepper.
- Bearnaise sauce is served with steak or fish, while hollandaise sauce is commonly used in eggs Benedict or served with vegetables.
Béarnaise vs Hollandaise
The difference between Béarnaise and Hollandaise is that béarnaise sauce has a base of white wine vinegar and shallots, while hollandaise sauce has a base of white wine vinegar or lemon juice and is seasoned with tarragon, chervil, and chervil. They look and taste different due to the different ingredients.
Béarnaise sauce is a very tasty sauce that you can use as a side dish with meat like chicken and beef. It’s also used as a topping on many dishes, such as steak.
It’s a blend of spices, pepper, and vinegar mixed in with melted butter. It has the consistency of mayonnaise, but it is quite different from it.
Hollandaise is a French emulsion sauce that uses egg yolks to thicken up a mixture of butter and lemon juice. This sauce is a common topping for many breakfast foods.
The sauce can be thickened up by adding a little water, 1 tsp at a time, while whisking it. It is a simple sauce to make and is a good starting point for beginners.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Béarnaise | Hollandaise |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | Béarnaise sauce is made up of eggs, chervil, pepper, salt, shallots, white wine, and tarragon | Hollandaise sauce is made up of egg yolk, salt, butter, lemon, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. |
| Eggs | Béarnaise sauce uses both egg yolk and egg white. | Hollandaise sauce uses only egg yolks. |
| Time of Preparation | It takes about 20 minutes to make béarnaise sauce. | It only takes about 5 minutes to make hollandaise sauce. |
| Consistency | Béarnaise sauce is thicker in consistency. | Hollandaise sauce is more creamy and has thin inconsistency. |
| Taste | Béarnaise sauce is a mixture of salty and tangy. | Hollandaise sauce is a mixture of salty and spicy. |
What is Béarnaise?
Béarnaise sauce is a hot and velvety sauce that is prepared with clarified butter, shallot, egg yolks, white wine vinegar and tarragon vinegar, and salt and pepper.
It is very easy to prepare and can be made with ingredients easily found around the house. The recipe for the sauce is as follows.
The ingredients are as follows: 1/3 cup of vinegar or white wine vinegar, a small bit of pepper, a dash of salt, a dash of sugar, a tablespoon of water, a tablespoon of melted butter, and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.
Mix all the ingredients and drizzle the sauce on top of your dish of choice!
This sauce is made of only two ingredients, vinegar and clarified butter. The vinegar is used to make the sauce tart, whereas the butter is used to enhance the flavour.
The vinegar can be either white wine vinegar or tarragon, but clarified butter is the most important part of the recipe.
The sauce is served with steak or fish because it has a rich flavour.
The appearance of the sauce is pinkish and creamy, and its texture is that of smooth mayonnaise. The taste is a mixture of butter, eggs and wine, and it’s delightfully salty and tangy.
What is Hollandaise?
Hollandaise sauce is a condiment made from eggs, butter, lemon juice, and seasonings. It is commonly served on poached eggs, fish, vegetables, and potatoes.
A hollandaise sauce variant is mayonnaise, made with vinegar rather than lemon juice and is the basis for many other sauces.
An emulsion of egg yolks and fat is required to thicken the sauce due to the minimal amount of liquid in the other ingredients.
It can be prepared by gently heating the egg yolks and butter together in a saucepan until the liquid yolk thickens. Once thickened, the liquid can be mixed with the lemon juice and then frothed with either a white or an electric mixer.
Whisk ingredients together until they are well blended. Heat over moderate heat until the eggs thicken slightly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
Hollandaise sauce is one of the most versatile sauces in the entire culinary world. It can be used to complement egg yolk dishes or fish, or even as a sauce for steak.
The key to preparing Hollandaise sauce is high-temperature simmering. To do this, you’ll need a thick-bottomed pot with a lid. Melt butter in the pot.
Once melted, leave it over low heat until the butter browns. Be careful not to allow it to burn. Then, you can begin adding your seasonings. Put the butter in the pot over the burner. Make sure the flame is on low.
Put the egg yolks, lemon juice, wine vinegar, salt, and pepper into the pot.
After completing the steps above, you can make your hollandaise sauce! You can serve it with eggs, fish, or any other dish you want to enhance with a creamy, tangy sauce!
Main Differences Between Béarnaise and Hollandaise
- Béarnaise is made with shallots, vinegar, peppercorns, and clarified butter, while hollandaise is made with egg yolks, lemon juice, clarified butter, and tarragon.
- Béarnaise sauce does not have egg yolks, while hollandaise has egg yolks (from both chickens and turkeys!) and is, therefore, less tart.
- Béarnaise is cooked over an open flame, while hollandaise is cooked over a double boiler.
- Both are delicious, but béarnaise is more common for dinner than hollandaise for breakfast.
- Béarnaise is a sauce that’s served with steak or eggs. It’s based on a mixture of vinegar and egg yolks and has a somewhat mild and sweet flavour. Hollandaise sauce is part of the mother sauce family and is known for having a delicate flavour that’s similar to egg custard. Although it’s served with eggs, it’s also used on fish and vegetables. It’s made by slowly adding clarified butter to the egg yolks and is flavoured with lemon juice and white wine.
- https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM197904053001421
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-459X.2001.tb00313.x
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
I had never read about these sauces and their differences before, you are to be thanked for providing such a well-researched article.
I also found the article interesting, but I am not convinced that the time of preparation of the two sauces is that different.
I agree that the article is informative, however the sources provided are not directly linked to the content presented.
This text is well-documented. The sources of the information are highly credible and the tone of the article is adequately impartial.
I agree with you Miller, the article has detailed and reliable information.
This article provides a very comprehensive comparison of the two sauces, but a video of the preparation would be a great addition to the content.
I believe it would be beneficial to include a section about the origins of these two sauces in order to provide a comprehensive overview of them.
These sauces are very well differentiated, as shown in the article. The comparison table really helps to visualize these differences.
Although the differentiation is clear, the images would be useful in visualizing the sauces.
It is very enlightening to learn about these two sauces. I appreciate the informative comparison between the ingredients and preparation times.