Moderators Tom Denham Posted April 17, 2012 Moderators Share Posted April 17, 2012 I use a food processor to make mayo and have gotten to where I don't measure ingredients anymore... I just put them in and process. I'm sharing my experience so you know the process is not horribly demanding. I started using apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice just because vinegar is easier and I don't notice a difference in taste. The one time my mayo "failed" (didn't emulsify into a pretty substance), I added more vinegar, kept processing, and it turned into a success. Melissa Joulwan warns that the egg needs to be at room temperature, but I rarely plan 60 minutes in advance so I typically use cold eggs when I make mayo. I've never had a problem (at least not one I couldn't fix with a little extra vinegar), but my results might be influenced by the quality of my eggs. You should see the beautiful chickens I get my eggs from. And my eggs are always extremely fresh... never out of the chicken for longer than a week. I use the whole egg because I don't know what to do with just the whites. I add some salt and some flavor powder. Typically the flavoring is mustard powder, but yellow curry, red chili powder, madras curry, etc works well. As mentioned, I pour in some vinegar, hoping my guess is close to 2 tablespoons, but I don't worry too much. I do measure 1/4 cup of oil to start, but then just drizzle more oil into the processor while its running until the consistency looks right to me. Once I kept adding oil to see if the consistency would collapse, but the mayo held nicely that time. I read the book about olive oil - Extra Virginity. There is a lot of fraud in the olive oil business. Much of what is sold as extra virgin olive oil in grocery stores is not extra virgin and may not even be olive oil. Manufactures have learned to process a variety of nut and seed oils to produce a substance that passes for olive oil with everyone except experts. The book did not discuss "light" olive oil, but I would guess that light oil is often not what the bottle says it is. Government regulators around the world have tended to turn a blind eye to the fraud. As long as the oil is not poisonous (in the sense of making a consumer immediately sick), regulators have pretty consistently ignored the use of nuts, seeds, or second-rate olives in the making of what is sold as extra virgin. I hate to hear that EVOO makes bad tasting mayo because I was planning to try it with my next batch. I have made mayo with light "olive" oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, and macadamia nut oil. I didn't know at the time that grapeseed oil was unhealthy. The bottle in the health food store said it was a great choice! My avocado oil mayo was green! I liked the taste, but the color was a trip. The mayo in my refrigerator right now is Chipotle pepper mayo made with light olive oil. I had some with tuna and beet salad yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 As a chef, I thought I'd offer a suggestion. A mayo that has split can be saved by the following technique. Place one egg yolk in a bowl and using a whisk, slowly whisk in the broken mayo. Usually a mayo splits because the oil is added too fast and it hasn't emulsified with the egg yolk properly. But starting with a fresh yolk, you can usually use the split mayo and save the batch. This was a technique that I learned and used in culinary school. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanye Mercer Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Success!!! After a LONG day at work I made a trip to the grocery store for light olive oil. (Couldn't find macadamia or avocado oil.) Came home and made homemade mayo using the new hand blender I sent the hubby to the store for earlier. It was SUPER easy and fast. I made Melicious' Fiesta Tuna Salad with the homemade mayo! Awesome way to end the day. Can't wait to try some more recipes involving mayo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanye Mercer Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/04/11/fiesta-tuna-salad/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahFancy Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Dervalc, I haven't tried it with the stick blender, but it worked great in the regular blender. I followed the Well Fed guidelines and dribbled the olive oil in really slowly. But, like Tom, I used fresh eggs from our friends down the road. I let it get to room temperature as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandykath Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I had a fail mayo episode and corrected it by blending an egg and then slowly mixing in the fail mixture, and then topped it off with a bit more oil. Ended up with quite a lot of mayo but at least it wasn't ruined. I use a magic bullet and it usually works out fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunezillasbride Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I've had horrible luck with my blender, but I had success with my KA mixer! It took a bit longer, but once it formed the emulsion (about 3 minutes or so) it was smooth sailing. I used the recipe from Sebastien Noel's Paleo Recipe book. It calls for 1/2 cup of both olive & coconut oil, but I reduced the coconut oil to 1/4 & increased the olive oil to 3/4 as I wasn't sure how stiff it would get in the fridge. It is so creamy & tastes wonderful! I'll never go back to store-bought mayo again. I might try the extra egg yolk in my blender again, it seems like it would be faster & less mess to clean up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 I made mayo!! So happy! My first experience was a fail, so I am just thrilled that my second attempt was a success. Loved it on top of my burger last night. The varying factors, egg was left out a longer period of time to get "more" to room temperature & I used a stick blender. I am using the Well Fed recipe. I can see this being a staple in my fridge. The husband compared it to Hellmans, which I think is very rich tasting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Tom, that info about olive oil is disturbing! I'll have to read the book... any brands that you trust? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 I learned about the "light" olive oil being stretched with vegetable oil from a girl who made olive oil for a 4h project. I live in CA, where we have some awesome olive and oils...I did not know that most of the olive oil in fancy imported bottles were full of that stuff, until I tasted her local CA fresh pressed oil and now I am an olive oil snob. Local CA oils for me...which means I gotta find this avocado oil to make my mayo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Hurrah! Third time's a charm Absolutely spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jena Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 Congrats Dervalc! Looks good. What oil did you use? I bought some avocado oil but it was infused with lemon and the mayo turned out gross, way too lemon tasting for me. Next time I will have to make double sure I get the plain avocado oil! Green mayo does seem wrong though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 This may be a silly question, but does homemade mayo need to be refrigerated? I just always have, but a few friends have asked me to make them some, and I'm wondering if I can just drop it off at the gym for them or if it needs to be chilled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Oh I'd think so Robin, I would be way wary of warm mayo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted April 29, 2012 Share Posted April 29, 2012 Definitely needs to be refrigerated, Robin. Raw eggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 That's what I was thinking, too, but then I remembered the store bought stuff is stable until it's opened. I'll just keep it all chilled. Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted April 30, 2012 Share Posted April 30, 2012 Hah! Yet another reason not to eat store-bought mayo, Robin. What did they do to it that raw eggs are stable at room temp? Icky thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted May 1, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 1, 2012 Emily asked about olive oil brands I trust... Whole Foods brands. My friends at Whole Foods tell me they make a real effort to insure that what's inside the bottle matches the label. My personal favorite (so far) is the 365 Organics Hojiblanca EVOO. An online source for good olive oil recommended by the book Extra Virginity is http://www.zingermans.com/. I have not done business with them yet, but I plan to eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddieaddie Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 I have tried a few methods with some expensive frustrating failures until I tried the method in "How to Cook Everything." The author describes the emulsion as egg yolk+oil+liquid rather than just egg yolk+oil. I tried it and... success! finally! Here are the basics in case you'd like to try this method... 1 egg yolk or whole egg salt (I used 1 t) mustard powder (I used 1 t) 2 T lemon juice 1 c oil (can use up to 1 1/2 c) Put egg yolk, salt, mustard powder, lemon juice, and 1/4 c oil in food processor and turn in on. While the food processor is running, drizzle the remaining oil into the food processor in a slow, steady stream. I used an empty picnic mustard bottle and took about 2 minutes to empty the bottle into the food processor. It came out perfect. By the way... I have used my past failures in marinades, so don't just chuck it if it doesn't work. It should still be good for a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Maddie, I make it that way too. I use some kind of acid, depending on what it's going in. If it's going in lobster meat, I go with the lemon juice. Otherwise, it's some vinegar (red wine or apple cider) ground mustard, acid and just the yolk have been my keys to success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monique Cheney Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Can you use a cake mixer? I tried making mayo with my single serve smoothie maker but it wouldn't thicken. I don't really want to buy a hand blender but if I can use cake mixer then I'll do it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 I had a "mayo fail" the first time despite following the directions to the letter as written in Well Fed. I suspected that my blender was too high-powered for the task. The next try I used my mediocre blender - and voila! creamy, lovely, homemade mayo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monique Cheney Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 I had a "mayo fail" the first time despite following the directions to the letter as written in Well Fed. I suspected that my blender was too high-powered for the task. The next try I used my mediocre blender - and voila! creamy, lovely, homemade mayo. I think that is the probably I had. My bullet is only one speed. I'll try the cake mixer since you can use a slower speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TiJa Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 it turns out just fine in my ninja, which only has a single speed. if my ingredients are at room temperature, it works like a charm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea D. Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I love using avocado oil...it's my favorite. I make mine in my Vitamix or food processor, slow drizzle is the key! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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