Calvin Chase 
Chemistry 
S. Smith 

RECIPE 

The Epiphany 
Ingredients 
● 3 egg yolks 

of Hollandaise  ● ¼ - ½ cup butter, salted or unsalted. The 

more butter, the richer the sauce. 

Sauce  ●
●
1 Tbsp lemon juice 
1 Tbsp water 
● A pinch of salt 
● A pinch of paprika 

Preparation 
1. Separate the egg yolks and melt the 
butter 
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. 
You will want to put the yolks in a heatproof 
glass bowl that you can use as a double broiler. 
Then you will melt the butter, let the butter 
cool so it is warm but not hot. If the butter is 
  hot, it will cook the egg yolks.  
2. Fill a saucepan with water and add the 
Ready in ​20 minutes  lemon juice, water and salt to the egg 
Serves ​4-5 people  yolks 
Fill the saucepan with about an inch of water, 
you don't want the water to touch the bottom 
Equipment  of the bowl. Bring the water to a simmer. Add 
the lemon juice, water and salt to the egg yolks 
● 1 heatproof glass mixing bowl 
and whisk until mixed. Do not put the bowl on 
● 1 medium sized saucepan 
the saucepan yet.  
● 1 whisk 
● Measuring spoons  3. Place the bowl over the saucepan 
● Measuring cups 
Once the butter has cooled but is still liquified, 
● 1 Thermos 
place the bowl on the saucepan and whisk 
● 1 optimistic attitude 
constantly until the eggs are a lighter color and 
  the bubbles are small. Do not add the butter 
until the color has changed, you want the eggs 
to be warmed but not cooked. 
  
Calvin Chase 
Chemistry 
S. Smith 

4. Slowly drizzle the butter into the 

mixture 
Personal Commentary 
Once the butter is warm but not hot, very, 
Hollandaise sauce is a very delicate sauce. If 
very slowly drizzle the butter into the bowl. 
any certain ingredient is just slightly off in 
Continue to whisk constantly as you add the 
temperature or not cooked properly the 
butter. Once some butter has bonded to the 
butter will separate from the eggs and water. 
mixture you can pour the butter a little bit 
The richness of the sauce comes from the 
faster.  
butter or the fat content. I experimented with 
different amounts of butter to find that this  5. Add paprika and salt to taste 
recipe works best. There is a range of taste to  Turn off the burner and add the paprika and 
this sauce so I recommend ¼ to ½ cup of  salt while continuously whisk the sauce.  
butter. Constantly check the water to see if it 
is boiling or cooled down, you want to keep the  6. Put the sauce in a warmed Thermos 
water at a simmer the whole time; if the sauce  The sauce will not hold for very long and it will 
gets too hot, the eggs will cook. Be patient and  separate as soon as it cools. You can pour the 
buy extra ingredients, it is a very delicate and  sauce into a warmed thermas and keep it for 
difficult sauce to make. It may take a couple  about two hours before you serve it.  
attempts. Remember to add salt before 
 
cooking and after cooking.  
 
 
 
 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
 
  
Calvin Chase 
Chemistry 
S. Smith 

My Experiment:  The Science Behind 

Chicken oscar is my favorite meal and  Hollandaise Sauce: 
it would be incomplete without hollandaise 
It is almost common knowledge that 
sauce. I wanted to play with the hollandaise 
water and oil don't mix, but why don't they? 
sauce and see if I could make my favorite meal 
Water molecules polarity causes the 
even better. I wanted to test the flavor and 
molecules to have a stronger attraction to 
thickness of the sauce so I decided to change 
themselves than oil molecules. Oil molecules 
the amount of fat by changing the amount of 
actually want to mix with water molecules, 
butter. My question is, how does the amount 
that's why you see a thin film on top of the 
of fat in hollandaise sauce affect the flavor and 
water. The oil molecules are trying to spread 
thickness of the sauce? 
and bond with the water molecules. In this 
I started with a base recipe that called  experiment, butter is the oil and the water and 
for 1 cup of butter. As I was cooking the sauce  lemon juice won’t bond to butter molecules. 
I realized it was just too much butter. I was  That’s why we need the eggs in hollandaise 
only able to mix a half cup of butter after  sauce. The egg proteins are the bonding 
about four or five tries. The butter got too hot  agents. When raw, egg proteins are all tangled 
and cooked the eggs. You want the egg  up and won't bond with anything. On the 
proteins to open and elastify rather than cook  flipside, when the proteins are cooked, they 
the proteins to a solid. The proteins will only  are not elastic enough to attach to anything 
bond the butter and water molecules if the  and start to solidify or coagulate. The proteins 
proteins are elastic and flowing. I also learned  have a nonpolar and a polar side. This allows 
that there is a very specific way to mixing the  for the polar water molecules and the 
sauce over the double broiler. The thickness  nonpolar fat molecules to bond with the egg 
also doesn’t come from the amount of fat but  protein. When the proteins are being warmed, 
how long the sauce is cooking.  not cooked, they stretch out and become 
I made three sauces, one with ⅛ cup of  elastic and attach to the water molecule and 
butter, one with ¼ cup and another with ½ cup  the butter molecule. The act of warming the 
of butter. I had my peers do a taste test of the  sauce, but not cooking it, makes this bonding 
hollandaise sauce with chicken oscar. The  possible.   
students that had a richer taste 
preferred the ½ cup of butter recipe 
and those who have a softer pallet 
liked the ¼ cup recipe. So depending 
on your pallet, ¼ - ½ cup of butter is the 
right amount.  
 

 
 
  
Calvin Chase 
Chemistry 
S. Smith 

Sources: 
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1f21/bc162
1fe8d091e1fca849676891d70c2c9ae.pdf 
https://sciencing.com/oil-wont-mix-water-79
96109.html 
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_
blender_hollandaise_sauce/ 
https://inksugarspice.wordpress.com/2014/0
3/03/the-science-of-meringue-making/