Mayo Mishap

[allynself]

Yesterday evening, I attempted to make Ranch dressing to go with buffalo wings and had to first make the Whole 30 basic mayo. Well in the two weeks prior to last night, I have made the mayo twice and it has turned out beautifully. Last night...not so much. Did the same exact things, followed all the same steps (even made sure ingredients were at room temp), and ended up with straight up runny liquid. Was the consistency of oil basically. Is there any reason for this? #mayofail

[Cathy125]

Hard to say but, many have added another yolk or a bit more 'acid' and then it worked..

Don't throw it out if still runny - can be used as a saute sauce - basting sauce - salad dressing etc....

[Tom Denham]

I have been having problems with mayo lately too. One thing I have found is that I can sometimes put the oily mess in the refrigerator overnight and then work it with my immersion blender again the next day. I have had this turn oily mess into thick mayo several times. I don't know why. It does not work 100 percent, but enough to try it (repeatedly).

[CJJ]

I follow the recipe from Well Fed for my mayo and it works out very well every time. I think (but can't prove) that the real trick to this is letting the egg and lemon come to room temp (I usually leave mine out for at least 2 hours). Second trick is drizzling the olive oil (NOT extra virgin) in slowly but surely. I use a food processor and the lid comes with a very small pin sized hole that I use.

Good luck!

[Crastney]

my second batch failed, and I added more acid, and more yolk, and neither worked.  when I left it in the fridge for a couple of hours and tried again it emulsified double quick time.  like Tom, I'm not sure why.

my imersion blender is knackered so I'm waiting to get a new one before trying again.

[Bellmaestra]

I put my egg in a container of hot tap water for about five minutes to bring it up to room temperature. So far I haven't had any issues at all with mayo, and I'm not really careful about slowly drizzling in the oil either.

Stephanie

[Crastney]

I had pretty much the same thing yesterday, it wouldn't emulsify, not matter what.  I actually forgot about the egg yolk, and was using whole eggs...

anyway, kept it in a jar in the fridge, and first thing this morning, took it out and it had settled, put the blender in, wizzed it, and within a minute it had emulsified beautifully.  Not sure, but reading some search results on the science behind Mayo, you have the egg yolk, and mustard as an emulsifier to the acid and oil, if you have too much oil to start with it won't emulsify, but using a stick blender in a jar just slightly larger seems to be the best trick.  once it's going, just raise the stick slowly, and the rest of the oil will emulsify.

I used actual dijon mustard yesterday, rather than using Colemans mustard powder like previous times, and the taste is a lot more like 'traditional' mayonaise... maybe this time my wife might even like it!

[Crastney]

she likes it!

something I was thinking is that an emulsion is when two things that don't mix are broken down to very small pieces, and then an additive is added which joins one end to each side that doesn't mix - not exactly how it works, but you get the idea, well presumably both sides have to be at the same temperature, and amount, so too much oil at the start and it won't work, also if the eggs are cold and the oil is at room temp, probably won't work, so I'd suggest making sure all ingredients are same room temp, and use very little oil to start with.

[jmcbn]

Honestly, you don't have to drizzle, you don't have to wait until everything is at the same temp, you don't have to overthink it.

Just dump & grind.

Home-made mayo in 30secs and if you make it in a mason jar all you have to clean is the blender.

It's failed me once, twice max in 18mths and I was still able to save it by adding the broken mayo slowly (but not oh so slooooooowly!) to an additional yolk (which I took straight from the fridge!).

[J9er]

Yep. Best investment ever made was my immersion blender. I make mayo every week sometimes more and the dump and grind method has never failed me. All ingredients are straight from the fridge, I don't even measure. I really hesitated getting one because frankly I didn't want another gadget, but I use it more than my other kitchen appliances now. 

[Crastney]

well I must have been doing something wrong then, as I've only made it 2 or 3 times, and definitely twice it hasn't worked, and I've had to leave it in the fridge overnight for it to work straight away when blitzed.  quite possibly I've used the whole egg, and not just the yolks - so I'll make sure next time to see if that makes a difference.  plus I've just bought a new hand blender which I'm sure will make a difference.

[J9er]

I use the whole egg  

for those using a hand blender: place the blender on the bottom of the jar before starting. Blend (mine only has one speed) for at least 10 seconds while blender is on the bottom then slowly lift while continuing to blend for another 10-15 seconds...done, mayo.