Bearnaise sauce and parsnip 'chips'

  

Sometimes over-confidence in culinary abilities can be our downfall. Without the advantage of a formal culinary education, gleaming all my information from cookery books, TV shows, lessons learned previously and word of mouth, it is inevitable and hardly surprising that some things go very wrong. When in cookery school with the fundamentals drummed into you through repetition until they become second nature, you learn to walk before you can attempt a marathon. Last night, with two beautiful New York strip loins at my mercy, I decided to make a Bearnaise sauce to cloak them in velvety richness. 

I remember once commenting to a chef friend that I was keen to make a Hollandaise sauce to accompany the smoked haddock I had just bought. Her raised eyebrows and questioning tone were very demonstrative as she asked if I had ever attempted it before. "Of course", I replied, well actually I had tried Bearnaise before but they were pretty similar, right? I should have taken heed then - she was trained, she obviously knew some dark secrets about Bearnaise and Hollandaise sauce, but she kept silent, obviously keen for me to make my own mistakes.

The picture above is my sauce, and it did work just fine, being thick like mayonnaise, smooth and velvety and happy to sit in it's bowl awaiting it's destiny, that is, until I decided to warm it in the microwave and the whole thing split. I forgot the fundamental rule of not letting it get too hot or boiling and my beautiful creation was ruined. To make matters worse I forgot the various ways of which you can save a split sauce and didn't have time to turn on the computer to search as my steak was getting cold. Then, Neil proclaimed he doesn't like sauce with his steak anyway and wouldn't have had any even if it hadn't split! I was heartbroken. I didn't take a picture of the split sauce as it was just too depressing but if you look at the steak at the end you can see the sorry mess on top. I had to swallow the disappointment as a lesson well learned and eat some, didn't I?

This is a link to a site explaining how to save a split sauce:

How to save a 'split' sauce

So, begin with 2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar and 1 tsp tarragon vinegar, some black pepper, salt and a pinch of paprika and place in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, (don't let the water touch the bottom of the pan). When the mixture gets thick, gradually add 8 tbsp butter cut into cubes until each is incorporated and the sauce is thick and mayonnaise like. Add 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley or tarragon and 1 finely minced shallot and a little more black pepper. DON"T LET IT BOIL OR GET TOO HOT! or it will split.

This is where I got the recipe from

Bearnaise sauce

To go with the steaks I decided to make some parsnip 'chips' in lieu of the fries that work so well with a big hunk of meat. We deep fried them in some vegetable oil and lard for 8 minutes, drained them and sprinkled some coarse sea salt on top then gave them a final 2 minute frying to crisp up at the end. They were very good, sweet, of course and earthy and a little bit over-fried, but a great alternative.

  
They look just like the real thing!

 It makes me happy me how a humble vegetable can be transformed simply with the addition of butter and black pepper before being served. I would never serve a boiled vegetable now without giving it some sort of dressing like oil, butter, seasoning or maybe something more elaborate like a vinegar-y dressing with mustard and herbs.

So, here is the steak, which was outstanding, tender and well-flavoured, the sweet, earthy parsnip chips, buttered, peppered savoy cabbage and the sorry Bearnaise, which still had a smooth yet tangy flavour, mellowed by the shallot and parsley and made unctuous by the copious use of butter.