Although this is a Hellman’s household, homemade mayonnaise is something we cannot live without. We serve a pungent garlic mayonnaise, aioli, on roasted baby new potatoes. And rouille, it’s saffron-tinted and cayenne-spiked cousin on top of fish soup. This recipe for whole egg mayonnaise is a simple and light version. It uses a whole egg instead of the more traditional egg yolk and lots of mustard and lemon juice.
We save jam jars and use them for our mayo, salad dressing, seasoned roasted nuts, granola, you name it.
Tips When Making Mayonnaise
Here are a few things I learned about making mayonnaise recently that I hope helps convert you to making it yourself. At least once.
Appliance: You can make mayonnaise using almost any appliance. Even a wooden spoon. A small to medium size food processor works really well. Most have tiny pinholes in the lid over the plunger through which the oil drips very slowly. This ensures a nice stable emulsion and thick mayonnaise. I’ve used a Cuisinart 7-cup machine to make whole egg or egg yolk only mayonnaise for years.
We own both the classic Waring blender with the fixed blade in the bottom of its glass jar and a high-speed Ninja with a wacky stack of razor-sharp blades. I tested this recipe in each machine, several times. The only difference is the speed and position of the blades. It may take you more (or less) time for the mayonnaise to emulsify depending on which machine you use. And be prepared from some splashing if you use the Ninja.
The immersion blender is a terrific device. It works well when making whole egg mayonnaise. But you need an immersion blender PLUS a tall narrow beaker in which to make it, something that not everyone has. (Our beaker broke.) The Swiss company that makes the Bamix, inventor of the immersion blender, has perfected a recipe for whole egg mayonnaise that you can find on any internet search. You use a cold egg and work rather quickly.
Oil: Half vegetable oil half olive oil, that’s what I use. But what kind of vegetable oil depends on what I have on hand. Cold pressed peanut oil has a clean neutral taste that I like. As does grapeseed oil. I avoid canola and generic vegetable oils for myriad reasons. (Environmental and health concerns come to mind.)
Fruity olive oil is my preference but often all we have on hand is slighter bitter extra virgin olive oil. Olive oils from California, Tunisia and Greece are often on the fruitier side as is olive oil from Provence. (Nicholas Aliziari in the lovely blue can is the brand I look for.)
Eggs: Consuming raw or undercooked eggs can result in salmonella poisoning. Of this I am aware. In a commercial foodservice environment, I want to know that every precaution has been taken to ensure food safety. This includes using pasteurized eggs. And or using humanely raised local eggs. At home, I am just as concerned. But the approach I take is to seek out chickens raised in a clean environment, with access to forage and the outdoors because this usually guarantees healthy chickens and their eggs. And I use refrigerator temperature eggs too.
To ensure food safety, the American Egg Board offers its recipe for making mayonnaise from eggs cooked over a double boiler.
Kitchen Notebook
When I served hors d’oeuvres variées and eggs coated with homemade mayo to Dorie and Michael Greenspan in the spring, I inadvertently became a mayonnaise making machine. (The dish struck Dorie as a subject for a column, which appeared in the NY Times.)
This particular recipe for whole egg mayonnaise is the result of my experiments. I felt that more people have traditional blenders than any of the appliances mentioned, so that is what I used in the recipe and what I shared with Dorie for her article. If you are curious, the evening I served mayo to Dorie, I had made it using a hand-held immersion blender.
Ingredients
1 whole large egg, cold or room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons mustard
½ teaspoon salt
8 to 10 fluid ounces vegetable oil or half extra virgin olive oil and half vegetable oil
Directions
- Place the egg, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard and salt in the blender container. With the blender running, slowly pour the oil through the opening in the lid, allowing the mixture to gradually thicken. Add as much of the oil as needed to make a smooth dense mixture. This should take between 1 and 2 minutes depending on the speed of your blender.
- Scrape down the sides of the container. Adjust the seasonings with more lemon juice, mustard and salt. Add a little cayenne pepper too if you like. Pulse a few times to incorporate any of the mixture stuck to the sides of the container. Stored in a sealed jar, the mayonnaise will keep for 3 to 4 days.
