Homemade mayonnaise is just about one of the easiest things you can make, and it’s so much better than anything you can get from a store. There’s really no excuse for not doing it. It takes just three basic ingredients… THREE… to make mayonnaise. Egg yolks, oil, and some acid – this could be anything from citrus, to wine, to vinegar, etc. For this method we’re going to use just a couple more ingredients, but only to fancy it up a little. They are not entirely necessary.
One of the cool things about something like mayonnaise is what makes it work – emulsion. In a mixture like this, with two substances that don’t combine naturally, you need a little science to help out the cause. That’s where the emulsification comes into play – emulsification is a mixture of two or more of these typically un-mixable liquids. The most common emulsions are fat and water, such as in the case with mayonnaise, but emulsions can also apply to things like vinaigrettes, or fat combining with protein and water to make hot dogs. Hollandaise is an emulsified sauce. Milk is an unstable emulsification, if it is not homogenized, which is why raw milk will separate over time and the cream will float to the top and form a layer of fat.
By whipping the oil and egg yolk into a frenzy, you separate the microscopic bits of fat apart from each other by working the emulsifier in between them – in this case the emulsifier being the water from an egg yolk. As the water works it’s way into the fat, you wind up with a new texture and a new mix unlike either the fat or the water, a third product which is wholly different from the two combined parts. The water then holds these parts of fat away from each other, which holds the mix at it’s particular unique texture and fluidity. If the mixture “breaks,” it’s actually the fat particles coming back together, and thereby separating from the water again. You can see this with butter sometimes, if perhaps you’ve tried to re-heat a particularly buttery dish in the microwave – you might wind up with a bunch of bits of fat and oil rather than one consistent substance.
Knowing how emulsification works, you can fix broken sauces or mixtures pretty easy. All you need to do is get the emulsifier (water) back in between those fat particles. In this instance, with mayonnaise, you can fix a break by getting another egg yolk, beating it slightly, and then slowly adding the broken mixture back into the new yolk. This will re-establish your emulsification.
Ready? Okay, let’s do this.
You will need:
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp Dijon style mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
The key to a good emulsified sauce is to take your time. This will require a lot of whisking, but it’s a good work out. If you *really* want to, you can make this in a food processor by drizzling the oil slowly into the top while the rest is blending, but I think you get a much more even and smooth texture doing it by hand. Plus, come on, it’s not that hard.
Start by combining the egg yolks, lemon juice, and mustard in a large bowl. Beat together until well mixed.
With your oil set out in a measuring cup, start slowly drizzling it in. The very beginning is the most important part, you want to really make sure that every single drop of that oil is well whisked into the mixture. Start with just a couple drops. As you establish the emulsion, you can slowly speed up until you have finally added in all the oil. This is really the only even slightly difficult part of the process, because it takes patience and a good deal of arm strength. If you get fatigued, switch arms.
Aaaaand guess what. You’re done. Homemade mayonnaise will take you about 15 minutes tops, for a whole jar’s worth. And it only calls for ingredients that you’ve probably already got in your kitchen.
To spice it up a bit, you can add some flavors in towards the end. For my batch here, I used a little more lemon juice and some fresh basil leaves. But feel free to get creative – any kind of fresh herbs, garlic, shallots, wine, vinegars, peppers/cayenne, spices, etc. will make for a tasty and unique mayonnaise that you’d never find on a store shelf. Get creative.
Extra credit: make up a batch of your own homemade mayonnaise and I’ll have a great recipe for you to use with it on Friday. If you flavor it, think fresh and garden veg rather than savory.
