Took me 4 hours to figure out why my hollandaise kept breaking

I was running brunch service last Saturday and had three orders of eggs benedict come in at once. My first batch of hollandaise split right as I was about to plate. Wiped the bowl, started fresh, and it broke again. I was so frustrated I almost just served poached eggs plain. Turns out my immersion blender was heating up from overuse and cooking the eggs too fast on the second attempt. Switched to a new one from the back and it came together in under 2 minutes. How do you guys troubleshoot when a sauce just won't cooperate during a rush?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_fiona1mo agoTop Commenter

Three eggs ben? That's a nightmare for hollandaise, I've been there. @bennett.harper is right about the cold glass bowl thing... I cracked a mixing bowl that way once and had egg yolk and butter all over the stove. My trick now is to keep a spare immersion blender head in the fridge so when the first one heats up I can swap it out fast without breaking my rhythm. Also, I started using a stainless steel bowl instead of glass for my water bath setup, it warms up more evenly and I don't worry about thermal shock at all.

wade2501mo ago

Man the immersion blender overheating is such a sneaky killer of hollandaise. I had a similar thing happen during a Mother's Day brunch a couple years back where I went through three batches in a row because my blender was getting hot from standing there blending over and over. Switched to a hand whisk and a cold glass bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, and it was like night and day. Now I always keep a backup blender or just go old school with the whisk if I'm doing more than a few orders. The heat from the motor just creeps up on you and suddenly your yolks are scrambled before you even notice. Rushes make you do dumb stuff too like forgetting to add the lemon juice until everything's already broken.

bennett.harper1mo ago

wait hold on, the cold glass bowl over barely simmering water thing is actually risky. if your bowl is cold and you put it over heat too fast it can crack, i learned that the hard way. better to just use a room temp bowl or warm it slightly first so it doesn't shatter when the steam hits it.