We have the Blues Brothers, the Christian Brothers and the Big Brothers.

And, deliciously, we have the Aise Brothers: hollandaise, mayonnaise and bearnaise, the finest emulsions of eggs, acid and fat the French have given the world.

The bros were much in fashion before our time of food police and super-skinny models. Then there was the raw-egg thing, too, and its menacings about salmonella or worse. Hollandaise and bearnaise are cooked slightly—though some complain that their egg yolks are still pernicious—and good mayonnaise is all about raw egg yolks.

Here’s the deal about using raw eggs. It’s like eating oysters or skinny-dipping at night: You know the risk; you decide. (The National Food Safety Initiative at the Food and Drug Administration estimates that one in 20,000 eggs may be contaminated. Salmonella organisms will not survive if held at a temperature of 140 degrees for 3-1/2 minutes or if they reach an end-point temperature of 160 degrees.)

Some cooks consider bearnaise merely to be tarragon leaves added to hollandaise. But while the best hollandaise is a simple blend of egg yolk, clarified butter and lemon juice, bearnaise begins as an intensely flavored infusion of tarragon, shallots, white wine, wine vinegar and black pepper, simmered and reduced to concentrate flavors, added to a frothy mixture of eggs and butter. (Which is another way of saying that bearnaise is all that added to hollandaise.)

For its part, hollandaise is much maligned for its saturated fat content. That’s because the classic picture of it is over eggs Benedict, like yellow lava flowing out of a Hawaiian egg mountain. In classic French cooking, hollandaise is more regularly a condiment, used as a dip for or lightly bathing green vegetables (steamed asparagus, say).

Using hollandaise (bearnaise or mayonnaise, for that matter) is all about Julia Child’s constant admonition that ‘a little luxury once in a while doesn’t hurt.’ And while good mayonnaise is so easily obtained at the supermarket, very little of it can equal the depth of flavor in a handmade mayo.

I remember my Belgian grandmother patiently smoothing an egg yolk in the well of a plate every single morning of my visits. She added oil and lemon, salt and pepper, and made from that simple but ethereal emulsion the best-composed salads I have (or ever hope to have) eaten.

Finally, hollandaise, bearnaise and mayonnaise are the basis for many other sauce variations.

Here are a few:

From hollandaise:

Sauce mousseline: Whip 1/2 cup whipping cream and add to 2 cups hollandaise, folding gently. Great with vegetables or steamed fish.

Fish hollandaise: Reduce 1 cup fish stock by two-thirds. Fold into 2 cups hollandaise.

From bearnaise:

Sauce Choron: Prepare a tomato puree by slowly cooking to a very thick syrup two tomatoes, straining them and stirring them into

2 cups bearnaise. Excellent with grilled fish, steaks or poached eggs.

Sauce Foyot: Add 3 tablespoons of glace de viande (French for ‘meat glaze’) to 2 cups bearnaise. Good with grilled meats.

From mayonnaise:

Sauce verte: Blanch two bunches of spinach in boiling water, rinse in cold water and pat dry. Finely grind in a blender or processor, then force the puree through a fine sieve. Use the juice to color 2 cups mayonnaise. Wonderful (and pretty) with poached fish.

Sauce Chantilly: To 2 cups mayonnaise, fold in 1 cup whipping cream, whipped. Do this at the last minute. Delicious with cold or warm vegetables and fish.

Classic hollandaise

This recipe comes from Gourmet magazine and makes 1 to 1-1/2 cups. Ingredients 3 egg yolks 1 tbsp cold water 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces Salt and white pepper

Directions

In the top of double boiler or a heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks until they become thick and sticky. Whisk in the water and lemon juice.

Place the pan or bowl over a saucepan of simmering, not boiling, water. Whisk until mixture is warm, about 2 minutes. (If mixture appears to become lumpy, dip pan immediately in a bowl of ice water to cool, whisk until smooth and then continue recipe.) The yolk mixture has thickened enough when you can see the bottom of the pan between strokes and mixture forms a light cream on the wires of the whip.

While whisking the yolk mixture add the pieces of butter, a tablespoon or so at a time, whisking thoroughly to incorporate before adding more butter. As the mixture begins to thicken and become creamy, the butter can be added more rapidly. Season the sauce to taste with salt, white pepper and lemon juice. To keep the sauce warm, set the pan or bowl in lukewarm water or in a Thermos.