Hollandaise & Bearnaise failures

[Warbo76]

Hi everyone,
I had a golden run of  making both Bearnaise and Hollandaise sauces exactly as per the recipe that comes with the thermomix on maybe a half dozen or more occasions (for each sauce) but now every time I make either one they come out runny and disappointing. I'm starting to think some thing is wrong with my machine - maybe the temp is wrong? I just can't work out why these recipes went from foolproof to reliable failures!!

Has anyone got any suggestions?

[cookie1]

Are you sure that you are pushing the temperature button?

[Warbo76]

Yeah it definitely heats up! The book says softened butter for bernaise but chilled butter for Hollandaise, don't know if that's a clue?

[Wonder]

Sorry I can't help much, we make the hollandaise fairly often and have never had a failure. Maybe try heating water to boiling point and check the time taken which should tell if it's coming to temp correctly.

[Warbo76]

Ok I tried bernaise sauce again tonight, just for an experiment, and I think I may have found the controlling variable - Lurpak butter!! My wife and I worked out that the recent failures all involved Lurpak whereas with the previous attempts we just used woolworths homebrand butter.

I'm not going to close it off there, I will try another couple of variables to be sure.

I would love to hear from those that have continuous success - do you ever change the brand of butter, temperature of the butter (ie softened or straight from the fridge) or the order in which the ingredients go into the mixing bowl?

I know it's a boring subject but I want to have one of my big clients over for dinner and I need the confidence to know I will get it right!

PS After comparing the ingredients, Lurpak has lactic acid culture which homebrand does not. Maybe that is the answer?

[Bedlam]

Warbo I can't remember what it was now but I had a failure and traced it to Lurpac too.  I love the taste of the butter but it seems "richer" somehow. Interesting.

[sue_purrb]

I haven't made Bearnaise sauce before, but have made Hollandaise, which split. I wondered if there was anything I could do to rescue it, and found via Google that by whisking in an ice cube, it came back to a beautiful glossy sauce.

I have made several split batches of mayonnaise, and they always work the second time if I start again with egg and vinegar, etc, and use the split batch in place of oil.

I seem to make a lot of mistakes! 

[Wonder]

We only ever use home brand woolworths or Aldi butter straight from the fridge. Better to not go with the expensive brand i guess.

[Kimmyh]

Wouldn't think the brand of butter makes any difference, but then again I only buy Coles or woolies home brand too, and I've never had a failure either.