[bgill]

Make that old AMERICAN cookbooks. BTW, yes I can understnd the old ones but what I don't understand is why Escoffier and most everyone else claims hollandaise sauce is one of the difficult sauces or why anyone needs to bother making it in a double boiler when it's such a simple foolproof one pan sauce. Whisk 3 egg yolks (save the whites for something else - waste not, want not) and a couple spoons of water over med heat to thicken, add a stick of butter by bits, continue whisking, lemon juice, salt and cayenne and it's done in less than 5 minutes. Pour it over some steamed asparagus, broccoli or cauliflower from the garden or an egg and toast and enjoy. If perchance you had to answer the phone during your whisking and it got lumpy, nuke your whites and chop them into it, and add some green onion tops from the garden and some herbs and pretend you were making béarnaise sauce all along. Same process with the yolks and butter in making lemon curd except go the sugar route.

[califamily4W]

Ha, you make it sound simple. Most people don't even know how to clarify butter... that could be the first reason. Plus it's hard to hold for service and easily breaks.

BTW have a beaten up copy of The Escoffier Cook Book right here on my desk. Look forward to your article! Your an entertaining and easy read, especially on a topic such as prepping for a doomsday world :/