Mayo from Scratch - Oh, the Possibilities

Let me start this post by saying I hate mayonnaise-- or at least I thought I did.  Then I tried the real homemade stuff and my life was changed... because I gained 50 pounds.  Of course that was a joke, but while I previously never had the desire to take a spoon of the plain stuff straight to the dome, I reconsider when I mix my homemade mayo with some garlic and chipotle, or better yet: with homemade Sriracha.  When you make mayonnaise at home, the possibilities are practically infinite and endlessly delicious.

To make this mayo, I'm going to be using my favorite kitchen tool: the immersion blender.  If you don't have one of these, consider getting one.  If that's still out of the question, there's no reason you can't whip up this recipe by hand with a good old fashion (non-reactive) mixing bowl and a whisk.  

As I mentioned before, homemade mayonnaise opens up many doors of possibility.  Tartar sauce, rémoulade, and thousand island dressing are all within your reach with this recipe, but  my personal favorite is a mixture of my homemade Sriracha and this mayo.  Aiolis are all the rage now, and if you can make mayonnaise, your aiolis will kick ass, to be perfectly blunt about it.  Like a good Reuben? All you have to do is add ketchup to your mayo to make the Russian dressing. 

LtR: Sriracha Mayo, Plain Mayo, Chipotle Aioli

Before we go any further, however, I'm sure some readers are wary of making mayo at home because of the raw egg yolk.  If you aren't really old, really young, or ill, your chances of getting sick are very small.  Still, you can either purchase some pasteurized eggs to cut your risk of running into Salmonella to zero, or you can perform an at home method of pasteurization.

One final note regarding the soy lecithin.  It is optional, but I do recommend it.  While one egg yolk has more than enough emulsifying power, the older eggs get, the more lecithin they lose.  Some people like to add a dash of mustard powder for its emulsifying properties and a little flavor, but the neutral lecithin is serious insurance against your sauce breaking when you're beating the hell out of it with a stick blender.

I hope you not only give the recipe a try, but go forth and make all kinds of mayonnaise derived sauces.  Maybe you'll find out (like me) that only the stuff in the jar is actually disgusting!



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Ingredients (yields ~ 1 cup)

Plain Mayo

1 large egg yolk, 19-21 grams*
1/4 t soy lecithin powder (optional)
1/4 t fine salt**
1 T citrus juice of your choice
1 T vinegar of your choice
drop of honey
6-8 fl oz safflower or other vegetable oil

Sriracha Mayo

3/4 C homemade mayo (above)
1/4 C of homemade Sriracha, or to taste
lime juice to taste

Need metric?

* I actually pasteurized my egg yolk.  If you want to do the method I used here, make sure you are aware of how much liquid you are adding i.e. Don't forget you've already added a half tablespoon of citrus to the yolks.
**  I put my coarse kosher salt in a spice grinder to make table salt sized granules.     

N.B.  For a very standard mayo, use lemon juice and white wine vinegar.  I was making mine with a Sriracha mayo in mind, so I used lime juice and rice wine vinegar. 

16, 1 Tbs serving	Calories	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Sugar (g)
Total:	1,502	3	3	173	598	1
Per Serving:	94	0	0	11	37	0

1.  In a narrow tall measuring cup (non-reactive i.e. not aluminum or copper) that just fits the head of your stick blender, mix egg yolk with lecithin, salt, honey, citrus, and vinegar until you have a fluffy, smooth emulsion.
2.  Place the blender head on the bottom of the cup and turn it on.  You may have to tilt the cup a little bit so the blades are blending the mixture.  With the blade running, slowly add in drops of oil.  If you're adding oil, make sure the blender is running.  If you need to stop blending, do not keep adding oil.
3.  After a couple seconds of dripping in oil and blending, your mixture should be getting very pale and thick.  Once you've got a solid mixture, you can add the oil in faster.  Once you start to do this, move the blender up and down in the mayo to make sure all the oil is getting incorporated.  If you have a high setting, this is a good time to use it.
4.  If oil starts to build up on the top, stop drizzling in oil for a second and move the blender up and down until it is incorporated before you start adding oil again.  The immersion blender makes a very thick mayo, and usually requires less oil than traditional recipes.  I measure out 6 fl oz of oil and that is enough 99% of the time.  The recipe says 6-8 fl oz because you will probably need the extra 2 oz if you do this manually.
5.  Blend until you have a thick mayo and store in the refrigerator. 

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