Important tips for neophytes:
1. the water bath must simmer, must not make.
2. the baking bowl with the yolks/reduction must not be in the water bath, only over it.
3. the right creaminess of the sauce is achieved by not making scrambled eggs, but a creamy sabayon. That means you have to stir constantly with the whisk and the reduction should be one tablespoon per egg yolk. Yolks without reduction or possibly liquid are either scrambled or possibly undercooked, you can stir as much as you want. When the sabayon is ready, you can see the bottom of the bowl when stirring and the egg yolks fall in ribbons from the whisk.
4. hollandaise sauce should never be as thick as mayo.
Bearnaise sauce is much thicker.
In a very small saucepan, reduce the reduction to one third, add 1 tablespoon of water and pass through a tea strainer into a stainless steel bowl with the 4 large egg yolks.
Put on the water bath form and whip into a light sabayon.
Turn off temperature of water bath or possibly water bath off electric plate. See notes above under “Important notes for beginners”.
use clarified butter, some use whole butter. Some make no reduction, acid comes from lemon. Some make the sauce Cuisine style with very hot butter, like a mayo.
Some strain the sauce through the etamin, some strain the reduction. Some add a little juice from a lemon, some add a little cayenne. To each his own. The basic pr