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John's Tarragon Béarnaise

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PREP TIME
15 min
COOKING TIME
40 min
TOTAL TIME
55 min
SERVINGS
8 servings
French
John's Tarragon Béarnaise
Ingredients
  • 1 cup fresh tarragon leaves, coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
  • 1 teaspoon drained capers
  • 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons tarragon-vinegar reduction
  • 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon caper-tarragon compound butter
  • salt and cayenne pepper to taste
  • 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
1
Begin by combining 1 cup of tarragon, shallots, and peppercorns in a saucepan. Next, add white wine vinegar, white wine, and water to the mixture. Then, place the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the liquid to a gentle simmer; stir.
2
Reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer and allow the liquid to reduce to approximately 3 tablespoons over the course of 20-30 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
3
Strain the mixture into a bowl using a fine-mesh strainer, pressing the tarragon mixture to extract as much liquid as possible.
4
To prepare compound butter, place 1/4 cup of chopped tarragon and capers in a mortar. Use a pestle to mash the ingredients together for about 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon of cold butter and continue mashing and pounding with the pestle until all ingredients are thoroughly combined in a solid mass.
5
Transfer the compound butter to a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it tightly, and chill in the refrigerator.
6
For béarnaise sauce, place egg yolks in a stainless steel mixing bowl; whisk together the egg yolks. Add 3 tablespoons of tarragon/shallot reduction and continue whisking until well combined.
7
Add cold butter cubes to the mixture, then place the bowl over low to medium heat. Whisk constantly until the sauce thickens, as you hold the bowl with a kitchen towel.
8
After the butter melts, continue whisking; the mixture will turn a lighter yellow color after 8-10 minutes. When the mixture is nice and thick, reduce the heat to low and stir in the compound butter broken into chunks. Continue whisking until well combined.
9
Remove from heat, season with salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.