Making mayo

February 10, 2013 by Julie @ Outtakes on the Outskirts | 3 Comments

I did a glorious thing for the first time in my life today. I made mayonnaise. It was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted.

And you know what? It was so freaking easy!

I deliberately don’t keep mayo in the house because I would slather it on everything possible and gain a million pounds. But today I wanted a tuna salad sandwich on toast, and you can’t have a good tuna salad in my opinion without mayo. And since I don’t keep the fattening stuff in the house, I busted out the KitchenAid and made my own.

I used the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s “Around my French Table” cookbook. She advised that the whole process would take about 10 minutes, and she’s right. It’s very quick if you have a stand mixer, but a hand mixer would work well if you’ve got a kitchen buddy to man it. Easy peesy.

Here’s the her recipe, with my instructions and tweaks, for you to try on your own. It doesn’t make much mayo, maybe a 1/2 cup, which is good because Greenspan says it will only keep for a day or two. Toss a few tablespoons of it with some tuna and sweet pickle relish and you’ve got yourself some awesome tuna salad.

Warning: Homemade mayo uses a raw egg. Since I have my own chickens and know my hens are healthy, eating a raw egg doesn’t bother me. Also, this mayo is not white, but a smooth butter yellow.

Homemade mayo:

• One large egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice or wine vinegar (I used the lemon juice)
• 1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard (I used spicy brown mustard)
• dash of salt
• 1/2 to 1 cup oil, room temperature (I used a 1/2 cup of olive oil because I like the flavor of olive oil mayo, but any kind will do)

Put everything but the oil in a stand mixer bowl and mix on a slow speed until combined. Add the olive oil in slowly by teaspoon, adding the next only when the previous oil was blended in with the yolk mixture. Greenspan advises to take your time with this and add the oil as slowly as possible. She wrote “drop by drop” in her instructions for the pace. When about a 1/4 cup of the oil is used, you can add it a little faster.

Greenspan said to use up to 1 cup of oil until the mayo reaches your desired state, but use at least a 1/2 cup. The 1/2 cup of oil made a nice thick mayo for me, so I stopped there.

When all of your oil has been mixed with the yolk and has the consistency of mayo, take a taste. I prefer my mayo a little tangy, so I added between a 1/2 and 1 tsp. of white vinegar. I also added just a pinch more salt and a pinch of pepper. Delish!

Do you make any of your own condiments at home? Have you tried homemade mayo?

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