The Mayo/Aioli experience

Some years ago when my step-mother bought me my first food processor, it came with a booklet of recipes. One of these recipes was for mayonnaise. Admittedly, I wasn’t too excited about this recipe since I’m not the biggest mayo supporter. I’d rather slather my burger in ketchup, thank you very much. However, it’s always stuck with me that you can make mayo at home. Would it be fresher? Would I suddenly be a mayo lover? And, most importantly, could I actually make this mysterious white fluffy mixture by myself?

Now mayonnaise has a cousin called Aioli. There is very little difference between the two other than Aioli must have garlic in it and use olive oil. According to dictionary.com, Aioli is “a garlic-flavored mayonnaise of Provence, served with fish and seafood and often with vegetables.” Mayonnaise is defined as “a thick dressing of egg yolks, vinegar or lemon juice, oil, and seasonings, used for salads, sandwiches, vegetable dishes, etc.” So there you have it – Aioli is fancy French garlic mayo.

Here is the recipe for basic Mayonnaise:

Ingredients in processor

• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup oil

First, place all ingredients but the oil in your food processor, or blender. You can use bowl and whisk if you feel confident in your ability to keep up a vigorous whisking pace for at least 5 minutes. My first attempt was the bowl and whisk method and unfortunately the mayo was a little runny. The reason is the oil was not added slowly enough, and I was not whisking fast enough.

Second, with all ingredients but oil blended together, keep the food processor on as you very slowly add the oil. The slower you add the oil, the fluffier your mayonnaise will be. Once your ingredients are whipped together into a opaque white-ish spread, you are done. I would recommend letting it chill for a couple hours before use.

Mayo Done

For my personal recipe, I used balsamic vinegar, a combination of both olive oil and grapeseed oil, garlic powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper. At first, this mayo was alright when I first made it. After letting it sit overnight, like recommended above, the flavors improved. Though now I enjoy the mayonnaise, I think next attempt I would change a couple of things. First, I would use lemon juice instead of vinegar. And second, I would use roasted garlic in place of garlic powder. Lastly, I might change out the olive oil for something with a milder flavor.

What flavors would you/have you incorporated into a mayonnaise?