I have never had the luxury of visiting Bearn in France and wonder if you really can find the mother of all sauces there; especially as Béarnaise originated there.

It’s my favourite and nothing gives me such a thrill as when I can produce a bowl of this thick luxurious sauce. Or better still when a restaurant gets it just right.

A few years we did a cook off with some chefs and I will never forget the Béarnaise that chef Margot Janse from The Tasting Room whipped up. It was this glorious airy mass with a slightly smoky taste from the smoked butter that she used.

Another one of my favourites is a classic, buttery with a subtle tang – Hollandaise.

The recipe of chef and Foodbarn restaurateur Franck Dangereux is perfection and if only one could bottle it! The recipe is in his first cook book, Feast.

Unfortunately I am not in Durban this morning for breakfast at Bellevue Cafe who serve up the best eggs Benedict smothered in the madame of hollandaises, so I'll stick with my muesli and yoghurt.

Which deserves a mention too, well the yoghurt does anyway. Last week whilst judging the Eat Out DStv Food Network Produce Awards I was so inspired by some of the yogurts that were nominated; thick clotted-cream-kind-of-stuff, where your spoon can stand straight up, to ones that just tasted like the proper stuff. I took some home afterwards to work into some recipes. There were some amazing products to sample: excellent breads, jams, glorious meat and duck and jars of pickles and pastes. It was a mammoth two days of eating and inspiration. There were so many deserving winners amongst the produce, and all of them will be announced on the 15 March at the Eat Out DStv Food Network Produce Awards.

Now I am hungry again.

Abigail

Photographs: Katherine Lim, jo-h, Katherine Lim and Cyclone Bill