Hollandaise, bernaise or butter mayo?

This post will offend a nation of butter lovers maybe?

This week, I want to give you a little tickle into not caring so much… this week's recipe is a classic poached egg with a hollandaise sauce, “eggs benedict”. But not done in the “classic” way. I will get stuck into that in the recipe section, but first of all, let me tell you what I have been up to. If you didn’t know, I ran a marathon with my mate - cheers for the pat on the back. But I will tell ya something that leads to something, so buckle up and see if you can follow my ADHD brain.

Last year, I reckon I got gout.. God knows how, but I believe it was partly due to going all in on an all-inclusive holiday for 2 weeks! Anyway, long story short it went away after drinking soooo much water I sometimes didn't have enough time to flush the loo before I needed to go! 

I have been training quite a bit, mainly circuit training at my local fitness club called Yolked! I didn’t do much running in the build-up to the marathon as once you have completed the distance before, mentally, you have already won and know you can do it, you will be alright. I strongly believe I can get anyone around a marathon, so if you are training for one, get in touch, and I will be your mind coach.

On my birthday, the weekend before the marathon, I had a very boozy, gouty weekend (see my previous newsletter), and 3 days before the marathon, my toe went all gouty again! I started the epic water drinking fest to flush my system and started looking for quick fixes! What fixes most things these days?! ICE BATH!

So I found a place in Shoreditch and did some hot sauna and cold plunging for an hour, and my body was thanking me. Luckily the gouty attack didn’t last and I was alright a few days later. So now I am a bit obsessed with ice baths! Every morning at 7am, I wander past my glorious family, all snuggled up on the sofa, drop my panties and slide into my tiny ice bath!

It’s too early to tell if it’s doing any good, but I start the day absolutely off my banana and feel like I have completed something epic before anyone has done anything! I used to get the same feeling running 15 miles to work every day and then sleeping under my desk, which is probably why I got sacked from my job!

Anywaaaaaay talking about gout this week's lesson and recipe is all about butter!!!

Lessons with Mart

Video notes

• How to make butter

• Butter is made from double-cream

• You can use one of these Butter churner

• Buttermilk is the offshoot of making butter

• Flavour butter - smoked butter, chilli butter etc

• Beure noisette

• Gee/ Clarified butter - allows to cook over higher temperature without burning.

Podcast 

Eggs Benedict

This is an absolute classic and is a staple on any brunch menu, if it's done well I normally smash it in about 30 seconds, but if it’s poorly done I am shuffling the food around the plate, wishing I had ordered pancakes! There are 2 bits that can go horribly wrong: poached eggs but more importantly, the hollandaise sauce! There are plenty of tips I can give you along the way to have a wonderful time so buckle up and enjoy!