Mayo

[GoGo]

Has anyone ever made their own mayonnaise from scratch? Was it difficult? Did it keep for long? I am so fed up with grocery store mayo, it tastes gross and the consistency is slimy. YUCK!!

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[JustSarah]

Hi GoGo,

My husband’s wanted to make his own mayo for a while, but it hasn’t happened yet, so I’m not much help on that part of your question.

Regarding store-bought, however, have you tried Spectrum brand canola mayo? It’s available at PCC and it’s quite good. I have never been much of a mayo fan, but I can taste the difference when I use this stuff in a sandwich compared to Best Foods. Good luck!

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[Franci]

My cousin has been making her own and loves it. Here is the recipe she has been using..

2 egg yolks

2 Tbs fresh lemon juice

2 Tbs water

1 tsp honey

1 tsp mustard powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 cup sunflower oil.

Fill a small pot a quarter of the way with hot water and bring to a simmer. Place a heatproof bowl onto the pot. add the egg yolks, lemon juice, water, honey, mustard, salt, pepper and whisk until the mixture thickens. Remove heat and pour into a food processor. Add a small amount of oil to the mixture and blend. While blending pour in a small amount of oil at a time until all the oil is blended and the mixture has thickened. Pour into a sealed jar and refrigerate. The mayo will keep up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator.

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[miws]

I’ve never made my own mayo. (Might try if I could simply dump everything into a dish and pop it in the microwave. ;-) )

However, when I worked at Rosellini’s “other Place Restaurant 30 years ago, the chefs there made their own mayo. The part I recall them saying was most critical, was the adding of the oil.

As Franci mentions in the recipe add it s-l-o-w-l-y. That is the key to not having it separate.

Mike

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[cjboffoli]

I’ve made it before. It is very easy. But the great advantage to store-bought mayo is that it will last for many months in the fridge whereas with homemade I’d feel like I was taking a real risk keeping it more than a couple of days.

Store-bought mayo generally uses egg whites as well as yolks. The recipe that Franci posted above calls for raw egg yolks which are actually an excellent medium for bacterial growth and my contain Salmonella. And bacterial growth may be further encouraged by using a hot water bath that is under 150 degrees. So please do be careful. You might also think twice about feeding homemade mayo to children. Of course, if you use pasteurized eggs or very fresh, organic eggs you will reduce the risk of getting ill.

A recipe made with just the yolks will have a stronger flavor than what you may be used to in store-bought mayo. But that might be something you’ll appreciate.

Though you may find it unreasonably expensive to do so, there are some mail order sources for authentic mayonnaise from the Netherlands which, if you’ve never tried it, is absolutely full of creamy, eggy flavor. They love it on frites over there for good reason.

dutchmarket.com is just one source that I have used to get my “patatje met” fix.

Good luck!

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[dawsonct]

Ah, concerns about salmonella and raw yolks are way overrated. Yes, if we are talking about young children or folks with compromised immunities it is probably better to err on the side of caution, but the salmonella is on the outside of the shell, and the ones you get in grocery stores are squeaky clean. This is why we refrigerate our eggs and folks in most of the rest of the world keep them in the pantry.

One of the best ways to make mayo is to make very small quantities for immediate or fairly quick use (week, 10 days).

If you are still squeamish about raw yolk, put a yolk into a small bowl and blend it with a tsp. each of water and lemon juice, or white vinegar for a more neutral flavor, and blend.

Microwave it on high until it just starts to agitate, mix well and return to microwave until it agitates again, remove and mix liquid frequently while it cools.

Add a pinch of salt, start whisking and slowly add oil (not more than 1/4 olive oil. Too much flavor and doesn’t emulsify well).

As sauce thickens, add oil 1/3 at a time until used up.

Don’t try to add more than 1 cup oil per yolk. Adjust seasoning (taste IT!).

If you aren’t afraid to use raw, this is the way I prefer to make it:

Place a damp towel on your counter in a donut-shape slightly smaller than the bottom of your mixing bowl and nestle the bowl in it snugly.

Rub the inside of the bowl with a garlic clove, if you like, and place a single yolk into the bowl (duck egg would be great) and sprinkle a pinch of salt over it.

Whisk the yolk and begin adding oil until it is quite thick.

At this point, add a t. each water and acid of choice, whisking to incorporate, and add remaining oil until you have your sauce.

Adjust/add seasoning.

—

Takes a bit of practice, but it’s not that difficult. Even when it becomes second nature you break one occasionally. Just grab another yolk and start incorporating the broken sauce into it.

Using a food processor or blender will speed up the process a little, but they aren’t foolproof, you will need to make a lot more mayo, and the clean-up is more labor intensive.

Whisking is gooood exercise, too!!

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[GoGo]

Thanks everyone for your help! Funny you should say duck egg, dawson. My husband is allergic to duck eggs so unless I want to kill him I’d better stick to chicken! :)

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[cjboffoli]

According to CDC estimates there are as many as 1.2 million cases of salmonellosis in the US every year. I’m not sure I’d construe that as “overrated.” Making homemade mayo in a water bath at a temperature that further encourages the growth of pathogens and keeping it the fridge for four weeks is an excellent strategy for making yourself ill.

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[austin]

Can extra mayo be frozen for later?

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[datamuse]

Yeah, but Chris, so is failing to wash your hands in between handling the raw chicken and the bok choy. I don’t know that one is any more likely to catch it by this vector than any other, really. Considering some of the sources of widespread outbreaks in recent years, I’ll take the calculated risk of the occasional beef carpacchio appetizer, just for example.

Mmm, raw meat.

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[cjboffoli]

datamuse: I’m not really saying that one item is more risky than another. And obviously, we’re all adults and can determine our own comfort levels with the risk.

I probably do agree with you philosophically. I take my own calculated risks with things like raw milk, occasional raw meats and sushi. I do recognize how some of the excessive regulation in the US prevents us from getting some extraordinary cheeses and meats from Europe. But the larger issue is America’s over-reliance on corporate/factory farming which lowers food costs but heightens our exposure to food borne pathogens across the board.

Especially in this case, where there is a person asking for advice, I think it was very helpful for someone to offer the recipe. But since salmonella poisoning is a REAL risk with uncooked eggs, I think it is essential to dispense caution along with the recipe so that GoGo can make a balanced decision.

austin: I don’t think so. Not only would you potentially be increasing your chances of winning the food borne pathogen lottery by adding a freeze/thaw cycle to the mix, but I think you’d find that the freezing process would break the emulsion of the mayo and you’d have an unappetizing, curdled mess on your hands.

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[dawsonct]

No, it will seperate.

—

1.2 million cases a year Christopher? All from raw eggs?

—

No hidden agenda here GoGo, stick to chickens. Duck eggs seem to be better for baking and sauces, though. So those who CAN use them may want to seek them out and see if the like the results.

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[datamuse]

Just as a clarification, I didn’t post any recipes. Though now I want to try a few of those listed here.

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[odroku]

The food professional in me will say only there is a wee bit of misinformation here. A modicum of research will give stats on foodborne illness related to eggs and what not.

Also…not to put too fine a point on it, but a chicken has just one hole back there. Do the math on that and WASH YOUR HANDS!

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[WSB]

FWIW I agree that regular grocery-store brand mayonnaise is all but unpalatable. If the make-it-yourself doesn’t work out, I would recommend (wait for it) … Trader Joe’s. Seriously, it’s one of the few items we go there SPECIFICALLY to find – so many other specialty/healthy foods are available in West Seattle, we don’t go there often any more, but if we’re in the neighborhood we stop by for a jar. Does not have the gelatinous quality of Best Foods/Kraft/et al. Of course, YMMV, and maybe you tried it already.

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[JoB]

odroku..

frequently:)

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[dawsonct]

Well, the birth canal IS close to the anus, but there is some seperation.

Again, American factory farmed eggs are washed before they hit the market.

There are FAR worse things in your factory-farmed food than salmonella.

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[JoB]

being an old fashioned girl..

i was them again before i store them:(

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[cjboffoli]

Yes, and pedantry is alive and well in the WSB Forums too. My original point was to use reasonable caution and not be unreasonably cavalier about using raw food products, especially eggs.

Surely the “food professional” would easily be able to substantiate, with a modicum of research, what is a matter of public record with the Centers for Disease Control. I was referring to their annual estimates for salmonellosis cases, in reference to the idea that the salmonella risk is trivial. I’m not sure if they take the trouble to breakdown how much of that is from eggs. And considering that most cases go unreported, they may not know. But I expect that some of the 1,000 people who actually die from salmonella poisoning each year probably were exposed to the pathogen via raw eggs.

Fallacious logic in the manner of “There are other things that can hurt you too” hardly addresses my key point that one should exercise caution when using raw egg products in recipes.

But anyone here who disagrees with me is welcome to whip up a big old batch of homemade mayo (in a pathogen-friendly warm water bath), keep it in the fridge for a month, and then eat it to their heart’s content. I suspect that the resulting face-first visit to the commod-icum will be a much more visceral research method than relying on those amateur, hack scientists at the CDC :-)

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[GoGo]

Yeesh, I’m starting to be sorry I asked!

I did try Trader Joe’s at someone’s recommendation but unfortunately I don’t like it either. I guess I’m just really picky.

I may take my chances and try to make some. Then again, I may not! If you don’t hear from me again you’ll know what happened….

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[KBear]

Is it possible you just don’t like mayonnaise? :-)

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[waterworld]

Never one to to resist an opportunity to be pedantic, I hasten to note (a) many cases of egg-related salmonella are caused not by contamination when the eggs are laid, but by resident salmonella in the chicken’s ovaries, which infects the egg inside the shell, and (b) estimates of the risk that an individual egg is contaminated range from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 30,000. The CDC says 1 in 50 people will be exposed to salmonella from an egg each year. But there’s a lot of salmonella out there, from a lot of sources.

I tend to agree with cjboffoli that having a sense of the risk is always helpful. I think it’s particularly important to understand that with some foods, you cannot eliminate the risk of food poisoning by washing the thing you’re about to eat. Some foodborne pathogens, like listeria in cured meats, are quite dangerous for pregnant women, for example. If I were pregnant, I’d be thinking “salami is good, but why risk it?”

Having said all that, I love undercooked eggs. Eat ’em all the time.

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[odroku]

If you go hiking, a bear may eat you.

If you drive a car, you may crash it into a lake.

If you kiss a girl, you may get mono.

Blah blah blah.

Even Glen Beck would have a hard time whipping up this much panic over homemade mayonnaise.

Jaysoos.

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[dawsonct]

I’m not big on coddled eggs either. They ARE a bit more “dangerous” than raw, but it does make tasty eggnog.

I feel there is enough acid and salt whisked into the yolk to make it a fairly unpleasant environment for most things. I’m sure I am not completely correct (thanks for the clarification in post 22, waterworld), but I choose to worry about other things, I guess. Besides, it tastes soooo much better; so eggy and creamy, yum!

It is a potentially dangerous substance, so that is just another reason to make a very small amount, use what you need and discard the rest.

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[cjboffoli]

odroku: For the record, if you consider that there are 1-2 deaths in North America annually from bear attacks and, as previously stated, around 1,000 deaths annually in the USA alone from salmonellosis, death from raw eggs seems like a significantly higher risk than getting eaten by a bear. :-)

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