Hollandaise sauce is pretty much a keto staple for me. I used to only have it when I went out for brunch but when I started keto, I taught myself how to make it correctly. In the beginning when I asked Waide if he wanted Eggs Benedict he would always say no thank you because he hated the taste of hollandaise. After a few months of this he eventually consented to try it. "Oh, this is what hollandaise is supposed to taste like?" I don't blame him, restaurant hollandaise can taste really bad if they do it wrong - or buy packaged stuff.

Don't be too scared of messing this up... I curdled the sauce about 3 times before I finally got it right. It took me a little while to figure out that the secret is LOW HEAT. If you don't own stainless steel mixing bowls, I recommend you fix that and go buy some. They are easy to use and a great way to make DIY double boilers. I use these bowls for my sauce because it makes it easy to check the heat underneath. The ideal for hollandaise is when your water (not touching the bowl!) continues to steam without boiling.

I learned how to poach eggs for the first time last year. I had tried everything - having my mom walk me through her method, buying an egg poacher (those things suck, don't bother) to finally accepting that restaurant eggs are it for me. Then I figured out that actually it's just all about the freshness of the egg. I started buying eggs from a local supplier recently and I buy two trays every two weeks (60) so when I get those, it's poaching time! My default method used to be the vinegar water swirly technique. Sometimes it worked, sometimes I lost three eggs before admitting defeat and making boiled eggs instead. When poaching fails, it fails in a big messy way, your eggs just fall apart in the water. But the common theme was; even when they worked, they were never very pretty. 

Then I watched the Masterchef Australia episode that would change my eggy life forever. Thank you Heston Blumenthal! Now, you can watch his video (<--- click over there) but I am still going to describe how I finally perfected it because I do it slightly differently. Fresh eggs are still important but I have actually done this with two week old eggs and it worked perfectly. I LOVE poached eggs and will never go back to swirling water again.