I called my mom this afternoon for one of our usual 3x weekly FaceTime conversations. They usually start-- and she can attest to this-- with me complaining about something, and then I ask her how she is and she says "fine", and then I rant about something else, we laugh, I force her to tell me I am her favourite, she refuses, and then she nags me about something to bring me back to reality. Lately the 'nagging' (if you could even call it that) is about the fact that I need to pick a logo for my business so that I can get this show on the road. Most of you know that I am having a really hard time doing this, and although I like to think of myself as someone who knows her likes and dislikes, it's hard for me to choose a favourite when I'm choosing between things that I love! Now I know how my mother feels... Anyway, today I was double-nagged because I haven't posted on my blog in a quite a while. The truth is: I am always cooking, I love it. But much of what I cook I can't publish because the recipes aren't mine, and unless I found them on the internet I don't feel right publishing them.
HOWEVER, as you can tell from the title of this post, I do have a recipe of sorts to share with you. I would like to take a minute to talk about how easy it is to make your own mayo and how we should all be doing it rather than buying that stuff in jars. I hesitated to write that last sentence because I'm sure I've now alienated my entire audience for one of 3 reasons. Either you...
1. Already make your own mayo and you're insulted that I assumed you didn't.
2. Don't make your own mayo because it doesn't seem easy and you're intimidated by it and you're insulted that I said it was easy.
3. Have made your own mayo but it wasn't easy and you think I was talking down to you.
I can somehow put myself in all three of those categories at one point or another in my life. I put off making mayo for a long time because it seemed hard and I was scared to waste an egg and (A LOT OF) oil. Then, the one time I did try it I used olive oil because I was trying to be healthy and it was awful because olive oil turns very bitter when you mix it so much, and my mayo 'broke' and turned into liquid. THEN, I turned to author-turned-chef Mark Ruhlman for the essential how-to of mayo and I am now a mayo convert. It was so easy. Trust me. The store-bought stuff is full of all sorts of strange ingredients and once you see how easy this is, you'll be a convert too.
Growing up my mother would make mayo from time to time. I never saw the process and to be honest the idea of a glob of oil and raw egg, however delicious, kind of grossed me out. We used to dip asparagus in it and I have fond memories of warm summer nights eating cold asparagus spears from the garden dipped in fresh mayo. The memories are more fond now though. At the time I really don't think I liked mayo. Also, did you know that it's rude to cut your asparagus and eat it with a knife and fork? Yes you heard it here first, eat asparagus with your fingers. My Uncle, Charlie told me that and he is really polite so he's probably right. So you pick up the whole spear with your fingers and (without dangling it over your mouth) you take a bite.
Back to mayo:
Aside from being delicious, I also like mayo because I am egg-white intolerant but not egg-yolk intolerant. This means that I can't have meringues (for the time being), but I can have lots of mayo. Lots and lots of it.
I recommend making your mayo with a hand blender if possible. You can use a whisk but it's more likely your mayo will break and its a lot more work (see alienation reasons #2 and #3). Don't use olive oil as it will get super bitter. I used grape seed oil and it worked wonderfully. You can also use canola oil but make sure it's organic (GMO's!!).
Ingredients:
1 t water
2 t lemon juice
1/2 t kosher salt (not iodized salt..)
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup - 1 cup oil
Put the water, lemon juice, salt, and yolk in a glass 2-cup measure. Buzz it a few times to combine. Gradually pour the oil in a steady stream while you lift the blender up and down to ensure that it all blends. You'll know it's done when... it looks like mayo! It should hold its shape really well. You could probably turn over the measuring cup and it would still hold its shape. Once you're done you can use your mayo for all kinds of things. I added chipotle pepper to mine and used it as a dipping sauce for sweet potato fries. Chris used some on his burger. Just make sure that you immediately refrigerate any that you don't use. It's is raw egg after all.
Enjoy!
