The holiday season is here, and we at UH News thought as a bit of a lift to this difficult year, we would ask some of our top culinary units to share some of their favorite recipes. We hope these recipes and the short stories that accompany them will give you something to smile about. We wish you and your loved ones all the best during your holiday celebrations—whether in person or virtual.
Hawaiʻi Community College–Pālamanui Associate Professor Paul Heerlein was inspired to share his Holiday Hollandaise, which can be used in many dishes, because the recipe is a hit with the students, faculty and staff at the campus cafe. Heerlein leads the campus’ culinary arts program in Kona.
See more UH-mazing holiday recipes
He created a video with step-by-step instructions for making the versatile hollandaise sauce and provides pro tips and detailed instructions as he prepares the hollandaise. The sauce can be used in two dishes—eggs benedict with roasted red pepper hollandaise and Pālamanui loco moco with seared ahi steak on a taro cake with a poached egg and red pepper hollandaise.
As a bonus, in the video, Heerlein shows how to make a zabaione, a dessert sauce similar to hollandaise, which he uses in the dish Waimea strawberries zabaione.
Holiday Hollandaise
Yields: 16 ounces
Ingredients:
- Clarified butter: 12 oz
- Peppercorns, crushed: ⅛ tsp
- Kosher salt: small pinch and more to add later to taste
- White wine vinegar or wine vinegar: 1T
- Cold water: 2T
- Egg yolks: 4
- Lemon juice: 1 ½ tsp and more to add later to taste
- Cayenne: to taste
Procedure:
- Keep the butter very warm (150–160 degrees F)
- Combine the peppercorns, salt and vinegar in a saucepan and reduce until nearly dry (au sec). Remove from heat and add the cold water.
- To make it easier to beat with a wire whip, it is best now to transfer this diluted, cooled reduction to a stainless steel bowl. Use a clean rubber spatula to make sure you transfer all the flavoring material to the bowl.
- Add the egg yolks to the bowl and beat well.
- Hold the bowl over a hot water bath and continue to beat the yolks until they are thickened and creamy.
- Remove the bowl from the heat. Using a ladle, slowly and gradually beat in the warm clarified butter. Add the butter drop by drop at first. If the sauce becomes too thick before all the butter is added, beat in a little of the lemon juice.
- When all the butter has been added, beat in lemon juice to taste and adjust seasoning with salt and cayenne. If necessary, thin the sauce with a few drops of warm water.
- Hold no longer than 1 ½ hours.
