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Béarnaise

Béarnaise is my favorite sauce. It's good on almost everything: steaks, fish, fried potatoes, eggs, chicken. . . I could go on. Its finest employment in the Creole arena is in a dish called chicken Pontalba. If you find fresh tarragon or chervil, use twice as much as called for here.

• 1/4 cup tarragon vinegar
• 1/4 cup Sauvignon Blanc or other dry white wine
• 1 Tbs. very finely chopped green onions, tender parts only
• 1 Tbs. dried tarragon
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried chervil

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 1 3/4 sticks butter, softened
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• Pinch cayenne

1. Combine the vinegar, wine, green onions, tarragon, chervil, and white pepper in a saucepan. Bring it to a light boil and reduce until the herbs are just  soggy.

2. Whisk the egg yolks and the vinegar briskly in a metal bowl set over a saucepan with about an inch of simmering water at the bottom. If you see even a hint of curdling in the eggs, take the bowl off the heat, but keep whisking. Keep going back and forth from the heat until the mixture turns thick and lightens in color. Whisk in a tablespoon of warm water.

3. Begin adding the softened butter, a tablespoon or so at a time. After about a fourth of the butter is in there, you'll begin to see a change in the texture of the sauce. At that point, you can step up the addition of the butter a bit, and keep going till all the butter is incorporated.

4. Whisk in the cayenne, lemon juice, and the herb mixture from the first step. Keep warm, but not over any heat or it will break.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Revised 3/29/08

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