Hollandaise and beurre blanc are popular French sauces that accompany a variety of dishes.

Both sauces are butter based sauces that are prepared by making use of whole butter.

During preparation, the whole butter is gently whisked into the sauce as it softens to form an emulsion.

These butter based sauces are also served warm, at a temperature where the sauce is pourable and the butter remains in an emulsion with other components in the sauce.

Beurre blanc and hollandaise sauce are yellow colored sauces that have a rich creamy consistency when prepared properly, however, they are made using different ingredients.

In this post, we are going to find out the differences between these butter based sauces.

Difference between hollandaise sauce and beurre blanc

The man difference between beurre blanc and hollandaise sauce is that the base of beurre blanc is made from a reduction of wine, vinegar and shallot which is then mounted with whole butter while hollandaise sauce is traditionally made up of an emulsion of egg yolk and butter. 

Hollandaise sauce can also be made using either whole butter or clarified butter.

In French cuisine, hollandaise is considered to be one of the leading sauce, and as such, other sauces are derived from hollandaise sauce.

Beurre blanc is neither a leading sauce nor a derivative of one.

What is beurre blanc?

Beurre blanc is popular sauce that is often combined with dishes that consist of seafood

This butter based sauce originated from nantes, a city in France.

It is a creamy yellow sauce that is pretty simple to make.

The ingredients of this French sauce consists of butter, vinegar, wine and grey shallots. The sauce could also be seasoned using salt and pepper.

The wine used for beurre blanc is white wine, and lemon juice could be used in place of vinegar

Making use of right amount of butter is also important when making these sauce, as well as a delicate balance of temperature to keep the sauce in a emulsion.

The sauce is also served warm so that its components remain in an emulsion.

How beurre blanc is prepared

Prepartion of beurre blanc involves making a reduction of the vinegar, white wine and shallots in a sauce pan

The wine, vinegar and shallots in the saucepan are heated until they are nearly dry.

Once they are reduced to about 2 table spoons, the pan is taken off the heat and whole butter is whisked into the reduction.

Small cubes of butter are then added one by one into the saucepan and whisked together with the reduction as the butter softens.

The sauce is whisked until it becomes creamy.

Various spices and herbs could be added to beurre blanc to give it flavor. Spices such as white pepper, black pepper, salt could are often added to beurre blanc.

The sauce could also be made smooth by straining to remove the pieces of shallots, or they could be left in the sauce.

What is hollandaise sauce

Hollandaise is a butter based sauce which is also a leading sauce in French cuisine.

This sauce could be used in a variety of ways and as a topping for different recipes.

It is popularly a part of the dish egg benedicts, it also makes a good sauce when combined with seafood.

As a leading sauce, hollandaise is used as a base for a number of other French sauces.

Other sauces that are derivatives of hollandaise include béarnaise.

Hollandaise is a yellow, thick and creamy sauce

Hollandaise consists of an emulsion of egg yolk, melted butter and lemon juice

It can be made with whole butter, but an easier recipe involves mixing the egg yolk with clarified melted butter.

The mixing is done over simmering water in a saucepan to prevent the sauce from overheating and the egg yolk from forming curds.

The sauce is served warm as cooling the sauce could make it separate or break.

This sauce can also be seasoned with white pepper, red pepper and salt.

How hollandaise sauce is made

Egg yolks are first separated from the egg white

The egg yolks are whisked together with lemon juice, salt, and water in a bowl and then heated over simmering hot water in a sauce pan.

The next step involves gently adding butter to the mixture.

Some recipes might make use of whole butter which are added tablespoon by tablespoon, while some others use clarified butter. Making use of clarified butter is easier.

The mixture is heated with care so as not to overcook the mixture as overheating breaks the sauce and could make the eggs to curdle.

The mixture produces a creamy yellow sauce, an emulsion of the butter, egg yolk and lemon juice which has a smooth texture

The dish could also be seasoned with paprika, white pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

The sauce is served warm, and could be kept warm by putting it over hot water in a saucepan.

In conclusion

Hollandaise and beurre blanc are both sauces that are easy to make using a whisk and a saucepan.

These sauces are mounted with butter, a technique in which these sauces are finished by gently adding butter and whisking it together the rest of the ingredients.

Preparing these sauces also requires finding a balance in the temperature as overheating or overcooling these sauces could ruin them.

Different seasonings could also be added to these sauces to give them a unique flavor.