This post is not about the usual hollandaise sauce. Nowadays, Egg Benedict is so common that l got so bored with the usual Hollandaise. Hollandaise is one of the 5 mother sauces in French Cooking. l have tried a lot of variation on this traditional sauce and this variation is my favourite.
The slightly fishy, salty, spicy taste from the mentaiko (marinated roe from pollock or cod) gives this sauce a savoury and umami rich taste. Its a perfect combination with the creamy hollandaise sauce
Mentaiko can be purchase from Isetan or Meidiya in Singapore. For those who are wondering what’s the difference between Tarako and Mentaiko, the latter is spicy.
Well I will not go into detail in this post on how to make Egg Benedict. I will be focusing on Mentaiko Hollandaise.
Hollandaise, in general, is not a difficult sauce to make though you might hear a lot of failures that shun you away from making this sauce. The most important part is controlling the heat and vigorous whisking.
You will need a double boiler for making Hollandaise sauce. Alternatively, you can just use a pot with simmering water and a heatproof mixing bowl as double boiler. Make sure the simmering water is not touching the bottom of the mixing bowl.
A lot of whisking is required. If you need a rest from whisking, remove the mixing bowl from the pot and Rest. That’s what I always did.
This sauce not only goes well on Egg Benedict. It pairs very well with seafood, steak, or any meat of your choice.
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 1 tablespoon Water (or Lemon juice, if prefer)
- 20 g Mentaiko
- 80 g Melted Butter
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Heat water in a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a slow boil.
- Reduce to lowest heat and bring the water to gentle simmer
- In a heatproof mixing bowl, add in egg yolks, mentaiko and water (or lemon juice) and place it over the pot of simmering water. Ensure that the bottom of the mixing bowl is not touching the water
- Whisk the egg mixture vigorously and continuously. Continue to whisk until the egg mixture thicken and double its volume.
- Slowly add in melted butter and whisk vigorously while adding
- Once the yolk mixture and butter in combine, remove from the heaf.
- Add salt and pepper if necessary Do note that mentaiko is quite salty. Taste before adding.
- Use as require.