Hollandaise is the fastest way to prove what a flavoured butter can do. The sauce is nothing but egg yolk, lemon juice and melted butter, so whatever is in the butter goes straight into the sauce. Here that means Bordier Madagascar Vanilla butter, whisked into a hollandaise and poured over steamed white asparagus and a poached egg. Vanilla with asparagus sounds odd until you taste it: the butter's brown sugar and Bourbon vanilla soften the slight bitterness of white asparagus. Around thirty minutes, start to finish.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves: 4
- Active time: About 20 minutes
- Cook: 10 minutes steaming the asparagus, 2 to 3 minutes per poached egg. Bordier gives no total time.
- Key ingredient: 125 g Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter
Why this works
Bordier's Madagascar Vanilla butter dates from 2010. It is unsalted butter worked with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, hand-churned in Brittany on a traditional wooden malaxeur. Because a hollandaise is roughly three quarters butter by weight, the sauce becomes a delivery system for exactly that flavour. White asparagus is grown under soil, so it never develops chlorophyll and tastes gentler and slightly more bitter than green. The vanilla lands on that bitterness rather than fighting it, and the poached yolk pulls everything together.
The technique is a warm emulsion. Egg yolk proteins hold droplets of melted butter in suspension, but only within a narrow temperature band. Too cool and the sauce stays thin; too hot and the yolks scramble and the emulsion breaks. Bordier's method takes the safe route: start the yolks and lemon juice off the heat until smooth, then return the pan to low heat and add the melted butter gradually while whisking hard.
Ingredients
Serves 4. Quantities are Bordier's own.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Egg yolks, plus medium whole eggs | 2 yolks and 4 eggs | 2 yolks and 4 eggs |
| Lemon juice | 35 g | 1.2 oz, about 2 1/2 tbsp |
| Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter | 125 g | 4.4 oz, exactly one block |
| Salt and pepper | Pinches | Pinches |
| White asparagus | 20 spears | 20 spears |
Bordier's method also calls for a dash of vinegar in the poaching water, which does not appear in the ingredient list above. Keep a bottle of white or white wine vinegar to hand.
Method
Step 1: Steam the asparagus and start the sauce
Trim the white asparagus and peel the spears. Steam them for 10 minutes, then lift them out and plunge them straight into ice water to stop the cooking. Melt the Madagascar Vanilla Bordier butter. In a saucepan held off the heat, whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice until the mixture is smooth.
Step 2: Build the hollandaise
Set the pan over low heat and whisk until the mixture turns creamy and smooth. Add the melted butter gradually, stirring vigorously as you go. Once all the butter is incorporated, season with salt and pepper and set the sauce aside.
Step 3: Poach the eggs and plate
Heat a large pot of water and, once it boils, add a dash of vinegar. Break an egg into a bowl. Stir the water with a whisk and gently pour the egg into the simmering water. Poach for 2 to 3 minutes, then lift the egg out with a skimmer. Arrange the white asparagus on each plate, set a poached egg on top and pour the hollandaise over.
Tips from our kitchen
- Peel white asparagus properly. The skin below the tip is genuinely fibrous and will not soften. Peel from just under the head down to the base with a vegetable peeler, and take a full pass. Green asparagus forgives a skipped peel; white does not.
- Keep the butter warm, not hot. Melted butter above roughly 60°C (140°F) will scramble the yolks the moment it hits them. Melt it gently, then let it sit for a minute before you start pouring.
- Add the butter in a thin stream. This is the single point where hollandaise fails. Pour slowly enough that the sauce absorbs each addition before the next, and whisk without stopping.
- Rescue a split sauce with a fresh yolk. If the hollandaise goes thin and oily, whisk a new yolk in a clean bowl and dribble the broken sauce into it a spoonful at a time. It rebuilds.
- Use the freshest eggs you can find for poaching. Fresh whites hold together in a tight oval. Older whites spread into ragged threads no matter how well you swirl the water.
- Bordier gives no oven or serving temperature for the plate. Our guidance: warm the plates, and serve the moment the last egg comes out of the water. Hollandaise does not hold well and will not reheat.
How to serve it
This is a first course or a long weekend brunch, not a main. Serve it with good bread to catch the sauce, and keep the rest of the meal light. A dry Alsace white or a Loire chenin handles both the asparagus and the vanilla. If you want to understand why a flavoured butter changes a sauce this much, our guide to Bordier butter covers how the range is made and which butter suits which job.
Where to buy Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Madagascar Vanilla Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): unsalted butter worked with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, the whole flavour of this hollandaise.
To compare it against the salted, seaweed and yuzu butters, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?
The recipe calls for 125 g, which is exactly one 4.4 oz block. Buy one block per batch of sauce, with nothing left over.
Can I use a different Bordier butter?
Yes. The unsalted butter gives you a classic hollandaise with no flavouring, and the salted butter makes a rounder, more savoury sauce, though you should then hold back on the added salt. The vanilla version is what makes this particular plate work.
Can I make the hollandaise ahead?
Not really. It holds for perhaps twenty minutes in a warm spot off direct heat. Refrigerating it sets the butter and reheating it breaks the emulsion, so make it last and serve it immediately.
What if I cannot find white asparagus?
Green asparagus works with the same method, though it needs less peeling and often less steaming. The flavour balance shifts, since green asparagus is grassier and pushes harder against the vanilla.
How should I store the butter?
Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Keep it refrigerated in its wrapper and use it within the date on the pack.
Why is my sauce thin?
Either the pan never got warm enough to thicken the yolks, or the butter went in too fast. Return it to low heat and keep whisking; if that fails, rebuild it around a fresh yolk.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Isigny Sainte-Mère: Normandy's AOP Butter & Crème Guide
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.