All about Egg Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise, in short Mayo, is a versatile condiment used in salads, sandwiches, burgers, fries etc. and can be used as salad dressing, sandwich spread, dip and as a base for other salad dressings.

Cuisine: American

Category: Condiment

Type: Dressing

Shelf life: 2 to 7 days in the refrigerator.

Mayonnaise based condiments:

• Fry sauce
• Salty fry sauce
• Marie Rose Sauce
• Ranch Dressing
• Rouille
• Salsa Golf
• Blue cheese dressing
• Tartar sauce
• Thousand Island dressing

Egg Mayonnaise recipe:

The authentic mayo consists of egg or egg yolks.

Ingredients:

1. Eggs/egg yolks = 2
2. Sunflower oil = 1 cup
3. Lemon juice = 2 tsps. or white vinegar= 1 tsp.
4. Mustard paste (mustard powder mixed with water) = 1 tsp.
5. Salt =1/2 tsp.
6. Tabasco sauce=1 tsp.

Note: If Tobasco sauce is not available, red chilli paste can be substituted. Take equal quantity of fresh red chillis or red chilli powder and lemon juice with salt as per taste and grind it to a thick paste.

Procedure:

Mayo can be made by three methods:

• Traditional hand whisk
• Food processor
• A stick blender or immersion blender.

a. With hand whisk:

• Making mayo with traditional hand whisk is a slow process. Use a glass or stainless steel utensil for whisking but not an Aluminium bowl because it reacts with lemon juice or vinegar and will cause a metallic flavour and slightly greyish blue colour to mayo.
• In a bowl, first, add eggs and mixed with lemon juice or vinegar and whisked. This helps in emulsification. Then add the other ingredients except for oil. The oil should be added in drops while whisking and once the mixture thickens, then the flow of oil can be increased continuing the whisking.
• Stir the mixture a few times after getting the required consistency.

b. With a food processor:

• When using a food processor, first add eggs into the jar (small jar should be used and not wider or larger jar) and process for about 15 to 20 seconds. Then add the other ingredients except for oil and process for another 20 seconds.
• Here 1 cup of oil is taken in the recipe. Add oil slowly in drops to the process until a quarter cup of oil is finished. When the mixture is beginning to thicken and emulsify then a very thin stream of oil is to be added.
• When all of the oil has been added, scrape the bottom and sides of the jar and process for another 10 seconds. Check the seasoning of mayonnaise and add salt or lemon juice or extra vinegar if needed.

c. With Immersion Blender:

• An immersion blender is more suitable for mayo recipe as it helps better emulsification without breaking. In this method, all the ingredients can be mixed at a time in the blender jar. Pour all the ingredients in the jar and let them settle for one or two minutes.
• Place the stick blender inside the jar firmly on the bottom and covering the egg yolk and turn the stick blender on and don’t move it for 10 to15 seconds. Make sure that the immersion blender is at high from the start.
• As the mayonnaise starts to emulsify, move the stick blender up and down to combine the ingredients well. Remove the stick blender and stir the mixture and mayo is ready.
• It should be stored in a tight lid container in a refrigerator but should not be freeze as the emulsion will break.

Fixing broken Mayonnaise:

Trick 1: Add about 1 teaspoon of mustard paste( it helps in emulsification) and broken mayo to a fresh bowl and whisk slowly by hand and combine the mixture bit by bit, until it becomes emulsified and creamy again.

Trick 2: Add an egg yolk to a clean bowl and slowly whisk the broken mayo, bit by bit, into the yolk.

Selecting the Eggs:

• It is safe to use pasteurised eggs for the recipe.
• If refrigerated eggs are used, keep the eggs at the room temperature before the recipe procedure for one hour or place the eggs in a bowl of lukewarm (not hot) water for 5 to 10 minutes and then use.

How to pasteurize eggs at home:

• Eggs should be pasteurized at room temperature. If raw eggs are kept in a fridge, keep the eggs outside for 30 minutes. Wash the eggs and then place them in a container and pour water till they are immersed completely.
• Turn the stove on and keep the flame low for the container. When the water begins to heat and small bubbles form in water, turn off the stove and let the eggs sit for 3 minutes.
• Strain the hot water and wash the eggs with running tap water. Remove them and wipe with a clean towel and can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week.

There are many recipes and a lot of information about mayonnaise but I wanted to write an article with all the details. This is the first article about egg mayonnaise and there will be another article about eggless mayonnaise. Stay tuned!

Happy cooking!