Sabayon gone flat

I'm making a sabayon with a combination of a sauterne and ameretto. I start with just the
egg yolks, sugar and sauterne over a bain marie and whisking constantly I add the
ameretto to the sabayon after it has doubled in size and it collapses and I have to whisk
for another 4-5 minutes to get it to come back to being thick enough to use. Why did the
ameretto cause the sabayon to collapse?

By W.DeBord on Saturday, September 23, 2000 - 01:52 pm: Edit

I think your method of adding the amaretto to the already cooked sabayon is thinning it out and not the right proceedure (at least I'm not familar with it being added later).

I add my liquor to the eggs first (so the sugar doesn't burn the yolks) then add sugar and whisk over bain marie. Always works great.

By andigold on Monday, September 25, 2000 - 07:31 am: Edit

Hi, I think it's probably adding the amaretto after the air is already trapped in the sabayon that is thinning it, but another thought I had was maybe the nut liquer has some nut oil in it which may collapse the sabayon. What do you others think? I've never used a nut liquer in a sabayon so I don't have experience in how it may react. Andrew

By W.DeBord on Monday, September 25, 2000 - 08:19 am: Edit

I frequently make an amaretto saybaon that I later fold whipped cream into, it always works fine. You can add almost any liquid/juice into your yolks and cook them into a sabayon. No, it's the proceedure that's wrong...I think I've seen that direction incorporating in two steps like described in an much older cookbook?

After it's cooked your thinning it out, the fact that you can get it accepted into your cooked yolks tells me you have a strong whisking arm!

By Ramodeo (Ramodeo) on Monday, September 25, 2000 - 12:01 pm: Edit

I don't think the small amount of oils that might be present in a liqueur would be able to deflate a whole egg foam like a sabayon - after all, the yolks themselves have a great deal of fat, right?

I would suspect the method, as W.DeBord said.