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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Homemade Mayonnaise



I've been watching a lot of short Gordon Ramsay clips on YouTube lately and have been inspired to make some mayonnaise. I'm not doing Gordon's recipe for mayo because he does it in a fancy Cuisinart with a pile of eggs, making a boat load. Sure he says you can whisk, but I'd rather find a recipe specific to whisking because I'm a puss. Searching, I found this recipe which looks quite simple and the yield is small but still plenty for me.

Homemade Mayonnaise
from Epicurious
click to print

1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt plus more to taste
3/4 c canola oil, divided

Whisk egg yolk, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl until blended and bright yellow, about 30 seconds.


Using 1/4 teaspoon measure and whisking constantly, add 1/4 cup oil to yolk mixture, a few drops at a time, about 4 minutes.


Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup oil in very slow thin stream, whisking constantly, until mayonnaise is thick, about 8 minutes (mayonnaise will be lighter in color).


Cover and keep chilled. Can be made up to 2 days ahead.


I whisked like a crazy fool, scared the emulsion would break, and I think my mayo might have turned out a little runnier than anticipated since some of the oil I was drizzling in wound up splashed on my shirt, the counter, and the backsplash. During my mayonnaise research I learned that the more oil you add, the stiffer the mayonnaise will be. By the time I was done though, the idea of whisking in more oil was enough for me to just chop my arm off and be done with the damn thing as it was verging on useless.

Gordon Ramsay would yell at me because I couldn't bring myself to taste my efforts. It looks like it turned out okay but it's mayo and I've never eaten mayo by itself. I have fried some on a griddle in my youth and that continues to amaze/horrify me. I will guess that it's better than the stuff purchased at the store (and kept at room temperature, gross!) and doubt I'll buy mayo ever again. This was so easy and done in less than 15 minutes with stuff I generally have anyway. Based on the cost though, I can see why it's effective to just buy it.

Cost:
  • egg: $0.31
  • lemon: $0.35
  • Dijon mustard: $0.04
  • canola oil: $1.32
Total: $2.02 for about 1 cup.

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05/21/14
I just made some more of this mayo and it took about 4.35 minutes. When I made it last time I went so slow it took what seemed like forever. This time I made it like I was emulsifying a salad dressing. Blammo, done in minutes, no worrying. And I don't have an urge to chop my arm off.

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