Béarnaise sauce

According to a common explanation, the sauce was accidentally invented by the chef Jean-Louis-François Collinet, the accidental inventor of puffed potatoes (pommes de terre soufflées), and served at the 1836 opening of Le Pavillon Henri IV, a restaurant at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The restaurant was in the former residence of Henry IV of France, a gourmet himself, who was from Béarn. Although the sauce is a French invention, it became popular in the Nordic countries in the late 20th century, where it forms a major part of local steak cuisine with steaks and fries, and is occasionally used there as topping on pizza, whether as part of the pizza or as a cold dressing put on afterwards. ==Preparation==

As with hollandaise, there are several methods for preparing béarnaise. The most common method of preparation uses a bain-marie, whisking to a temperature of , where a reduction of vinegar is used to acidify the yolks. Auguste Escoffier and other sources Alternatively, the flavorings may be added to a finished hollandaise (without lemon juice). Joy of Cooking describes a blender preparation with the same ingredients. ==Derivatives== • Sauce Choron (also called béarnaise tomatée) uses tomato purée instead of herbs. It is named after Alexandre Étienne Choron. • Sauce Foyot (also called Valois) is béarnaise with meat glaze (glace de viande) added. • Sauce Colbert is Sauce Foyot with the addition of reduced white wine. • Sauce Paloise uses mint instead of tarragon. ==See also==