
As we noted last week, Peg Bracken, author of the I Hate To Cook Book and the original queen of recipe short cuts, died last week at the age of 89. This morning Weekend Edition aired an interview that Liane Hanson did with Bracken in 1999. She was witty and irreverent and hearing the interview sent me to my bookshelf to find my copy of her book.
Flipping through it, her voice leaped off the page. Some of her recipes are a bit dated and yet many of them are still very useful and relevant. One recipe that jumped out at me was her instructions for Fake Hollandaise, because that was one of my grandmother's go-to sauces. She would make it to pour over steamed broccoli, boiled potatoes and to fancy up asparagus. So, in honor of Peg Bracken's life and work, I offer you her Fake Hollandaise recipe after the jump.Fake Hollendaise Sauce
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the milk and mayonnaise together in the top of your double boiler (if you don't have an official double boiler, fake one with a bowl on top of a pot) for five minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the other things and stir just long enough for one good chorus of "Gloomy Sunday" and it's done.














