In this episode of The Free Culinary School Podcast we start part one in our five part series on the classical French Mother Sauces. A well made sauce will make or break a great restaurant, and will turn the home cook into a culinary god.
The Five Mother Sauces are the basis to a huge percentage of any sauce that you may attempt to make. Understanding these “Leading” sauces will empower you to understand the underlying technique of classical sauce making, ultimately allowing you to create your own masterpieces.
In this Episode:
Plus, listener questions are answered:
- Rick question on what’s better; a 10″ chef’s knife, a santoku, or a Chinese cleaver?
- Michael’s question on whether or not professional chef’s read and follow recipes.
- And David’s question on what kind of tools you need in a professional kitchen.
Also, in the culinary quick tip, I give you a couple of tips on how to properly poach eggs using the traditional method and the restaurant method.
Questions or comments about the show? Click on the comment button below!
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally consider recipes as guidelines for a particular dish. When approaching one that I’ve never tried before, I usually read over it several times to get the general idea of how the recipe works. I also check the ingredients for things that may need to be omitted or to make any other adjustments. Once I’ve made what I consider to be the “base recipe”; I start thinking of ways to make the recipe differently by incorporating different flavors or textures so the next time I make the dish I could put my own personal spin on it.
In my opinion, that’s the best way to approach recipes. Once you have a basic understanding of a recipe and how it works, you can usually come up with something much more creative based on that concept.
Plus, in the professional arena, directly reproducing another chef’s recipe without at least making it your with a unique garnish, presentation or flavor structure, is like a comedian stealing jokes. If you’re going to replicate another chef’s recipe to the T, then you need to at least give him/her credit for it.
But if you spend all your time replicating recipes, you’ll never truly find your own style and creativity.
Thanks for the comment Meca.
As a response to the question about knives in the hollandaise show, “http://www.cookingforengineers.com” has a really in depth guide to kitchen knives, as well as a comparison of some of the leading chef’s knives in the “Equipment and Gear” section.
@Alex,
Thanks for the tip; I’ve actually visited this site a couple of times and I’ve found it extremely interesting. I always try and approach cooking from a logical and a creative point of view. Cooking For Engineers definitely covers the logical point of view.
Great Recommendation.
I just listened to FCS, Episode 8. Thank you for giving such a thorough and
thoughtful answer to my question!
Your answer was insightful and very helpful. Although I’ve considered flavor combinations, your answer tells me that I haven’t thought deeply enough about what the recipe is trying to get me to do when I am reading something
new.
Also, as a side note, years ago I had tried to make Hollandaise sauce — and naturally it was a disaster. Since then, I’ve made other emulsified sauces and I haven’t tried go back and try my hand at Hollandaise again — but I will after listening to your podcast!
Two follow on questions: (hopefully short answers)
* With only myself and my wife, making Hollandaise on the scale most recipes call for will involve me throwing out a great deal of it. I’m under the impression you can freeze most anything that has fat in it — can a Hollandaise sauce be made to freeze well, and reconstituted later?
* Have you ever tried to deep fry a poached egg? I tried this once. I saw it on a show and thought it looked interesting. I poached eggs, then cooled
them in a ice water bath. When they were cooled, I rolled them in egg wash, flower and panko, and deep fried them. Of all that I tried, only about 1/3 worked out, but they were gooooood. I think if I would have partially frozen the egg for about 10 minutes it would have turned out better. Definitely not something I want to confess to my cardiologist!
Cheers,
I’m looking forward to your future podcasts and blogs.
@Michael,
For a smaller batch of hollandaise than the recipe in the show notes has, I would recommend working off the basic ratio of for every 1 yolk using 2.5 ounces of clarified butter. Because you’re making it in such a small quantity you’ll have to experiment with the seasonings such as the vingar, salt, pepper and cayenne.
Unfortunately, problem with freezing hollandaise is bringing it back. The emulsion will surely break. Although it is possible to fix the broken emulsion, I would recommend just making a smaller batch to begin with.
To your second question: Yes I have deep fried poached eggs before. To make them easier to work with, I first put the eggs in small tea cups and poached them in a steamer. This kept them much more compact.
I then cooled them in an water bath and let them drain on paper towels. I then dredged them in flour and battered them with a tempura batter.
I think the combination of the compact poached egg and the tempura batter which serves as a better barrier than panko allowed these eggs to come out really good.
Hoped this helped.
Alright, I’m confused about the statements that you can’t make hollandaise with a kitchen aid or blender. I use a similar technique to this very simple one (http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1615,146177-239203,00.html) on a regular basis, and it honestly produces a nice creamy emulsion. The method is consistent, and in my opinion significantly easier than carefully using a double boiler or direct heat. The only time I ever messed it up was pouring in the butter too fast, which, of course, resulted in scrambled eggs.
My question is what’s the problem with blender hollandaise? Obviously it’s not the classical method, but is there something else that I’m missing? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work in larger batches either, but why is it that blender hollandaise is almost never discussed by more professional chefs? Is it unsafe or something?
@ MattyD,
There’s nothing wrong with making hollandaise in a blender, but really your making more of a mayonnaise with clarified butter then an actual hollandaise. A good hollandaise will have its yolks slowly cooked over gentle heat until they thicken, and then the clarified butter is added in. Although adding hot clarified butter to a blender will cook the yolks during the emulsification process, it won’t yield quit the same texture as slowly cooking the yolks first over gentle heat. With that said, most breakfast restaurants now days use powdered hollandaise mix to actually make their sauce, so anything that you make from scratch, even using a blender, will be a much better product.
Is it classical? No. But is it a solid alternative? Absolutely. Hope this answered your question.