Hollandaise
Scale:

Ingredients

main
1 —egg
4 tbsp (1⁄2 stick) —butter
1 tbsp (1⁄2 lemon) —lemon juice
1⁄4 tsp —kosher salt
1 pinch —cayenne

Method

  • Cube up the cold 4 tbsp (1⁄2 stick) butter
  • Add all the ingredients to a medium mixing bowl: 1 egg, 1 tbsp (1⁄2 lemon) lemon juice, 1⁄4 tsp salt, 1 pinch cayenne
  • Whisk constantly over low–medium heat, holding the bowl with a towel
    • The butter will melt
    • It will thicken and become paler
    • When it thickens it's done
    • Taste and season

Notes

This can be kept warm in a thermos if you need to make it a little ahead of time.

Recipes I've seen have said to use water and save the egg white, but I don't usually have anything else to do with it so I just use it. I've made sabayons on an electric range so it's possible to use one, but it seems to work better on a gas range.

If it breaks, you can reconstitute it by whisking the broken sauce slowly into some hot (as in just off boiling) water.