Mayonnaise

For over 30 years the Kitchen Witch has hated, despised and been revolted by mayonnaise. Why, I really don't know. Something about the texture, gloopy and gloppy, the flavor, kinda sour and strange, and the fact that 'everyone' said that I SHOULD like it was enough to convince me that I would NOT indeed like it, thankyouverymuch! Then one day an epiphany struck: most everything that's store bought is better, much much better, when homemade. The Kitchen Witch wondered about mayonnaise, would homemade be better than store bought? There was only one way to find out, that was to make some!

Turns out that homemade mayo isn't that hard, as long as you have a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. I've tried 3 batches of mayo now: the first was in the blender using Alton Browns recipe, the 2nd was Alton's recipe again but in the stand mixer and the last was this recipe provided by Aunt Ruth and Uncle Gene - slightly Kitchen Witched, of course. Here's my findings:

The Alton recipe has great flavor. The blender method did not work for me, it could be because my blender has a large carafe. There were chunks of unprocessed egg yolk in the blender version and it also broke & separated. It was NOT pretty I guarantee you that.

I remade the same recipe in my KitchenAid stand mixer and had much better results. The mayo didn't separate and had a nice emulsion. I also liked how Alton's recipe calls for adding the vinegar in 2 installments to denature the yolks which allows them to emulsify the oil better. Fantastic tip AB!

The 3rd is the one I'm posting here. I added a few things from AB's recipe to this one to make it more my own. It calls for a whole egg vs the yolk only and the emulsification was easier to achieve but it wasn't as thick as the yolk only version. It is however the one that I photographed so I'm posting it for you all :)

All in all I have to say that homemade mayonnaise is a lot better than store bought. The lack of artificial anything is fantastic and the flavor is astronomically better. I liked the consistency of the yolk only version so I'll be playing with these recipes more. Look for more mayo posts to come soon. Best of all I can now say that the Kitchen Witch is no longer a mayo hater, as long as its homemade that is.

Mayonnaise
makes about 20 servings, 1 tablespoon each
1 egg
1/2 t dry mustard powder
1/4 t paprika
dash ground red pepper or cayenne
1/2 t kosher salt
1 c oil (canola is fine)

Mix the vinegar & lemon juice together In a small bowl. Divide the oil into 2 bowls, 1/2 c each. Set aside.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer add your egg, spices and 1/2 of the vinegar mixture. With the whisk attachment beat the eggs until they are foamy, about 30 seconds.



Turn the speed up to 10 on the mixer and SLOWLY, and I mean slowly, add the oil, a few drops at a time. You'll want to slowly drizzle the oil in as the emulsification starts to take form.



~*~Kitchen Witch Tip: If you have a turkey baster use it to dispense the oil into the eggs. It will make your mayo making a lot easier. No baster? No problem! Simply use a bowl that will pour out in a small stream. The key to successful mayo is the slow introduction of oil to make an emulsification.~*~

Once you've added the 1st 1/2 cup of oil scrape down the sides, add the remaining vinegar mix, whisk until incorporated well. Then start to add the last 1/2 cup oil SLOWLY.

You can really see the mayo starting to come together here, its getting thick and rich.

The entire process takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Don't rush this or you will end up with an oil slick on top of some foamy eggs. I tried to outsmart it & rush things, it didn't go so well. Its gross, believe me.

After 20 minutes of whisking on HIGH speed you've got mayo!



Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople Recipe Calculator
20 Servings, 1 Tablespoon each
Amount Per Serving
Calories 100.6
Total Fat 11.2 g
Saturated Fat 0.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.5 g
Cholesterol 10.6 mg
Sodium 10.9 mg
Potassium 4.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 0.2 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.1 g
Protein 0.3 g