Well, it isn't. Here's my recipe that I use, and if I can make it anyone can.
I'm no expert in the kitchen by any means, but paying up to $6 a bottle for something I can make for a few cents is way too rich for my blood!
I wish I could also share a taste with you, but you'll just have to come visit for that!
My recipe makes well over a typical salad dressing-sized bottle full of mayonnaise (about 1 1/2 cups), and costs me maybe a dollar to make...maybe.
Using home grown ingredients - I use our own eggs and lemons - brings the cost down further.
My home made mayonnaise recipe
- Ingredients:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard - I used ready made dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon vinegar - I used plain white vinegar
- 1 cup oil - any type except extra virgin olive oil, which is too strong a flavour. I used the really cheap home brand salad oil.
Method: - Whisk together egg yolk and dry ingredients in a glass, ceramic or metal bowl with a metal hand whisk.
- Combine lemon juice and vinegar in a separate bowl or glass then thoroughly whisk half the juice/vinegar mixture into the egg/dry ingredients mix.
- Whisking briskly by hand, then start pouring the oil gently into the egg mix in a small, slow and steady stream.
The oil will gradually start to be absorbed and the mixture will lighten in colour and start to thicken into an emulsion.
- When you have added roughly half the oil, and the mix is smooth and creamy, add the rest of the lemon juice mixture.
The mixture will be smooth, thick and creamy - and very rich-looking (which it is!). - Rest at room temperature for 1 - 2 hours, then refrigerate.
This recipe will keep for up to 1 week, and can be used as a base for other sauce recipes.
You can store it, as I do, in a cleaned-out recycled mayonnaise jar, or similar. Just be sure to label and date it.
In an upcoming post, I'll show you what to do with mayonnaise, besides using it as a dressing, if you feel like experimenting and making up some fancy sauces!
Sauce recipes I'll be sharing include my home made tartare sauce and seafood cocktail sauce - which I used for my parents when they come, because they eat fish and we don't.
I also be sharing my blue cheese sauce which is sublime for cheesey sauce lovers, and my caesar dressing recipe.
Plus a few recipes for those special spice mixes that cost a lot in the supermarket.
They're all easy, they're all cheaper to make yourself, and I bet you've most of the ingredients sitting at home right now.
Isn't food wonderful!
--If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my feed! Or Follow this blog! And comments are always appreciated!
11 comments:
I've been making this with wine vinegar for years- can't wait to try lemon juice instead! (I think it's better without the sugar though!)
graham
Wow, yours looks so good. I had a bad experience with my mothers home made mayo once and I've been fearful of it ever since....you've inspired me to put aside my fear and give it a whirl I think.
Love your blog.
xB
Oh this sounds good - and simple! I have been struggling to find a mayo that uses free range eggs, none in the supermarkets and a local market charges $12 a jar!!
I can try making with my own home-grown egss- much better. I guess that is why your mayo is much more yellow?
Hi Graham - The lemon juice works well, although I still use a bit of vinegar.
The vinegar I used was just the cheap-as white vinegar brand I use for cleaning! I'm shameless! :-)
The sugar is a matter of taste, but I find mayo too bitter without it. Just adjust according to what works for you. I also like mine quite mustardy, but once again, that's taste.
Hi Bianca - Definitely give it a go. It really is easy. I've even heard of people doing mayo in food processors, but I'm old school and like to whisk. It might take off a few of the calories in the mayo!
Thanks for the great feedback, and good luck on your mayo adventures!
Hi Mountainwildlife - $12 a jar? Ouch!
Yep, just make your own.
When I first made my own, I had to hunt around recipes to find one I liked, and then I tweaked it a *lot*, mainly because I didn't like the sugary US recipes online, and didn't want to add dairy products either.
Yes, mine is a lot more yellow than any mayo I've seen. Our omelettes are always more yellow too, and I think it is because our hens are really truly free range.
If you've got eggs, I think making mayonnaise is an obvious step for you.
$12 a jar! I'm still cringing at that! Yes! Make your own! :-)
Hi there
Is this where I admit that I make my Mayo with a food processor? ;-p
I put all the ingredients in the jar it is going to be stored in and I hit it with my stick blender. Perfect, tasty mayo in about 10 seconds :-)
And yep, it is truly free range eggs that give that rather distinctive yellow/orange colour. We regularly give my brother a dozen eggs that we have spare and he says the colour change when he adds one of our eggs to a 4 egg omlette (which he shares with his wife and son) is incredible. And he buys the "free range" eggs you can get in the supermarket. So I have my doubts as to how much grass and bugs those birds actually get to eat.
Oh dear..... disaster! I tried this today and I don't know what has gone wrong, but it didn't thicken at all. I followed your instructions to the letter (except for mustard as I have none) but it remains a runny, watery yuk. I tried hand whisking, mixmaster and stick blender to get it to thicken but it refuses!! Measurements were all accurate. I used fresh egg yolk and canola oil. Any idea where I went wrong?
Hi Mountainildlife - If it didn't form an emulsion at all (thicken and mix the oil and egg), I'm guessing either the eggs weren't whisked well before the oil was added, or the oil was added too quickly.
That's just a guess. The other possibility is that the eggs were straight out of the fridge and too cold - try leaving them to room temperature first, then mixing. Warming the bowl a little can help too.
Give it another go. All I can say is, you will get there!
I made this last night for our salad, and can't believe how easy it was and how quick. Thanks for the recipe, and I'll be making my own mayo from now on instead of buying it at the store.
Susan.
Hi Mountainlife,
it's the mustard. You must include mustard (this is what i find anyway) - without it i just cant get it to work. if you try again with a spoonful of mustard from the beginning i am sure it will work.
mustard is the emulsifier in mayo, you can make it work, but it's more stable (and delicious,) with it.
Well you all seem to have most of the process of making good mayo with a few mistakes that the true experts never make.Such as:Get all the ingred.above 70deg.F.,only use good oils that won't harm your body.What are those you ask? Its the reason I make my own mayo because almost without exception all of the stuff available at the stores are made with soybean or canola oil.Never was there a worse oil to consume for general health than soybean oil.It supresses the thyroid and causes one to be tired and lack energy.Canola on the other hand is subjected to high temp.and caustic soda to make it consumable by animals and people.Not a very good "natural"product if you are into eating healthy.If you were to consume unrefined rape seed oil your heart would be full of ligments and turn to a solid mass of scar tissue in short order.Does that sound like a good thing to eat?My choice of oils is grape seed,safflower,sunflower or raw sesame oils.All of them are pretty neutral in taste,making an excellent mayo and shelve life in the refer is pretty long.I usually make two quarts and it last for a month or more without going bad.The mustard is nothing more than flavor.as is all the other additional ingred.. Now if you don't believe me just make a single batch with nothing but egg and oil.It will form just like normal but have no taste except that natural oil and egg taste which is pretty bland.
Post a Comment