If you
aren’t making your own mayonnaise and alioli at home then you are
letting one of the best things in life (or at least in the kitchen) pass you
by. Store-bought mayonnaise is for chumps as making it at home takes literally
less than a minute. I don’t recommend making it with a whisk like the French
guy does in the video but I like how he broke down the “whys” and “whats” of
making this simple sauce. First of all it is essential to begin with all the
ingredients at room temperature as he advises. Take your eggs out of the refrigerator
well before the start or your oil won’t emulsify as I learned the hard way on
more than one occasion. I watched a video in Arabic and the woman said that if
everything goes as it should, and if God wills it (in sha Allah) you
will have mayonnaise.
I don’t
think that divine intervention is necessary to pull off great mayonnaise every
time in your kitchen. I haven’t made a video because there are already hundreds
out there in every language to walk you through this. I have a few tricks that
I use in my version. I use a LOT of garlic, like 3-4 cloves. I mash them first
in a mortar with a pinch of salt and oil just so I know that no little chunks
escape the fury of the hand blender. I also use extra virgin olive oil even
though many people say that it is too strong for this delicate sauce. I just
figure that olive oil is much better for me than any other type of oil so that’s
what I should be using. I also like to squirt in a bit of red wine vinegar
instead of lemon juice, mostly because I always have vinegar on hand which isn’t
true about lemons. I have a special glass container that I use to make it so
that I don’t have to transfer the finished product. I just pull out the blender and put on the
cap. I also like to stir in a little
more seedy Dijon mustard when I'm finished just for an added kick.
My
last batch of mayonnaise was so good that I could eat it like ice cream.
