I Heart Hollandaise?

I didn't use to like Hollandaise sauce. Of course that was like....30 yrs ago and I hadn't tried it since. The adults in the family back then use to rave about it....and serve it on special occasions. As a kid, I was highly disappointed.

I love poached eggs though, and always have...and well, Hollandaise goes with poached eggs like gravy goes with biscuits, right? I mean....they're just meant for each other.

So it was inevitable that my taste buds would get a chance to redeem themselves.

Why this trip down memory lane? And the desire to prove that my taste buds have grown up?

I think it's been all this talk about my ancient Better Homes and Garden Cookbook recently.

I love how it looks. The canvas feel it has....

The old drawings....so retro!

My favorite part of any cookbook...the Weights and Measures! (the ultimate cheat sheet!!)

And the charm of old, brittle pages that are browning on the edges...

I noticed that my new BHG has a slightly different recipe for Hollandaise sauce, which I thought was interesting. But for the sake of "memory lane" I'm going to make the old version.

Btw....I'm not going to go into how to poach an egg. I haven't mastered that yet. I have no clue how long to cook them to get the desired yolk. Any tips guys?

Soo...in the Sauce section of "Soups and Sauces" we have Hollandaise Sauce, Quick Hollandaise Sauce and Mock Hollandaise Sauce.

I stuck with Hollanaise Sauce:

1/2 cup butter

4 egg yolks, well beaten

1/2 cup boiling water

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Melt the butter in a double boiler. I don't have a double boiler so I use a glass bowl and it works just fine....

Very gradually add the melted butter to the beaten egg yolks, stirring thoroughly. If you add the hot butter too quickly, you'll cook your eggs and get a lumpy sauce. Then gradually add 1/2 cup boiling water, while continuing to stir....

Return to double boiler; cook and stir constantly until sauce thickens...

Remove from hot water; slowly add the lemon juice and salt.....stirring constantly...

Cover; place back over the hot water (with the burner OFF) to keep warm until ready to serve.

Make your poached eggs. (Totally related to Julie from Julie & Julia, here)

It is me or do these kinda look like jellyfish.

Assemble over a toasted Thomas' English Muffin and a slice of canadian bacon....plop that poached egg on top and let the sauce smother it all together under a blanket of goodness...

And yes....I am totally in love with Hollandaise Sauce!!! I'm just pissed that its so fattening! LOL

However....my daughter informed me that my Hollandaise doesn't taste like the kind at restaurants. Apparently restaurant Hollandaise doesn't have lemon? I do have a packet of Knorr Hollandaise Sauce mix in the cupboard...... Ooooh....now I remember!! I bought the packet on a whim a couple of weeks back. But instead of using it, I figured..."hell, I can make it myself"....so that was the beginning of the beginning.

I will try the packet and see what my daughter has to say about it. Will it be better than mine? Will it be better than the restaurants? Inquiring minds want to know....