Monday, April 22, 2013

Homemade Mayonnaise

It's been interesting keeping up daily Facebook posts on my fan page, The Swing, and trying to stay current here on my blog.  I tend to get wordy here because I have the space!  BUT a couple of days ago I wrote a post about coconut oil.  Within the past couple of years we have purchased coconut oil and coconut butter, both to which we (Mark and I) agreed that the trade off of taste was not worth the value....but now the dietary science seems to be rolling through the Reifkind household once again, but I'm not ready to get into all of the science of nutrition yet!  This post is about homemade mayonnaise!

Mayonnaise is categorized as a "sauce" or "dressing". A sauce or dressing has fat, acid, and something that emulsifies and/or thickens the two, like mustard, or egg....and to be honest I could be totally wrong about this!  I'm just a home cook looking to understand the methods and techniques of cooking and preparing foods!

I've been wanting to make my own mayonnaise for years now, after spending time with my best friend, and former professional Chef, Fawn Friday, who always makes her own mayonnaises and aioli's (garlic mayonnaise).  The only problem is that I don't particularly like mayonnaise enough to eat much of it!  So therefore I don't use a lot, and getting into the practice of making it so that it becomes effortless and efficient just doesn't happen often enough.  The only tricky part about it is that there is a particular technique which, if not adhered to, will make a sloppy broken up mess of a good amount of costly ingredients!  The best way to make sure that you don't mess it up is to practice!

You can find a TON of mayonnaise recipes online, but the technique is the same.  Start with egg, lemon (acid), mustard (emulsifier), salt and pepper.  Using a blender or food processor drizzle in oil (oils) a drop at a time so it all comes together, until you can start to "stream" the oil in as it is blending (or processing). It really about technique and not so much the measurement of ingredients.

Okay, so back to MY story of coconut oil mayonnaise!

I needed mayo because I was out!  Since I don't use that much it's been on my grocery list for about 1 week!  This afternoon, with all of the recent coconut oil usage in my house, I started to think that there must be a coconut oil version of mayonnaise.  Fat is fat, right?  Well, kind of, but mostly yes.



Using a basic recipe I pulled out my blender and went to work.  Lucky me I have pastured eggs in the fridge and I had some good quality oils (both coconut and olive).  I only had stone ground mustard (not Dijon), but it's just cooking, right?  The key...the key, until you get enough practice, is that you start adding the oil as slowly as humanly possible for the first minute or two while your blender is on "low".  Then a steadier stream can be tolerated.

If you screw this part up, your sauce, your mayonaise will "break", never to come together again!  And it ain't pretty, or edible!  The chances of you throwing a good amount of $$ down the drain (literally) is pretty good!  lol

But at the end of the cooking day, the practice, successful or not, will be worth it!  Jus think about the possibilities!  Garlic mayo, fresh herb mayo, avocado mayo, bacon fat mayo....good God!  If you google flavored mayonnaises the sky is the limit!

Please google some recipes, try them and report back!  Or maybe it's something you already prepare?  Please share!  Me?  I'm a total convert!  Never, ever, store bought for me anymore!  Oh, and what a great excuse to use cute little jars!  And talk about a nice hostess gift!  I promise, if you invite me over I will bring you some!  lol

Here are some popular posts with more details about technique.

http://reluctantgourmet.com/cooking-techniques/more-specific-techniques/item/59-homemade-mayonnaise-recipe
http://fotocuisine.com/?p=980
http://www.realfoodkosher.com/homemade-mayonnaise-101/
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/basic-mayonnaise-10000000663046/index.html

5 comments:

Kimberly said...

Most food processors have a tiny hole in the insert/pusher/thingy that goes in the lid, so you can pour your oil into it and it will dribble at just the right pace.

Thanks for the recipe inspiration!

chrystad72 said...

this is great. Ive always wanted to try making it but just haven't yet. Sounds so good though, does it last awhile in the fridge?

Oh btw..I did the Sinister workout this weekend. Wow! Absolutely loved it, so challenging plus I love that you can really make it as hard as you want by just using different bells. Really fun to do.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Kimberly,

I should know that, but I have an ancient food processor! BUT I have a killer immersion blender that has the perfect attachments to make mayo! And I didn't even know it until a friend of mine with the same tool showed me!

So wonder I don't care for mayonnaise considering I had only been exposed to store bought! Now, I really can't imagine not making it.

I dressed my asparagus and egg salad with it and it was deelish!

Thanks for your comment.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Chrystad,

Here's one more thing...it's made from ingredients you should already have AND it 10,000 times more delicious!

I know some recipes (Alton Brown) use vinegar instead of lemon to stabilize the raw eggs better. Look through some recipes and try a few. Most recipes claim that the mayonnaise will last for weeks if it doesn't get eaten beforehand! And I've been hearing the same stories from homemade mayo makers that their family eats it up quickly!

Tuesday said...

Hi Tracy!

I LOVE homemade mayo, and before I tried homemade, I thought I hated mayo.

I make mine in my food processor--it has the little hole in the pusher thing so I just pour the oil in there and let it do it's thing.

The recipe I have had the most success with is Melissa Joulwan's. It's here:

http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2010/06/03/the-secret-to-homemade-mayo-patience/

Yep, homemade mayo lasts as long as the eggs stay good. Sure, it could be a couple weeks or longer, depending on your eggs. I make a jar every week/week and a half, so there's no danger of it going bad before it gets consumed.

I usually make my mayo plain, but then take from it to make different flavours or use in recipes.