Mayonnaise
Making one's own mayonnaise - instead of buying a jar of Kraft or Heinz at the supermarket - seems like too much hard work, yes? However when you're a Coeliac, most commercial mayonnaises, pastes etc are full of nasties like malt vinegar, preservatives, maltodextrin, emulsifiers blahblahblah, so if you want mayonnaise you gotta DIY unless you want to be disgustingly ill. Also, homemade mayonnaise, aioli, pesto etc also happen to taste about three zillion times better. AND it's nowhere as difficult as anyone makes out. Do the math.
Makes about 400 ml. Keep in a glass screw top jar in the fridge. It won't keep as long as commercial varieties - because of the lack of preservatives, emulsifiers etc - but I doubt that'll be a problem!
Ingredients:
|
3 egg yolks |
300 ml extra virgin olive oil |
|
pinch (eg 1/2 tspn) salt |
the juice of half a lemon or 2 - 3 tbspn tarragon vinegar* |
|
2 tbspn warm water |
|
|
|
|
|
* I make my own tarragon vinegar by decanting a good white wine vinegar into a pretty bottle and adding sprigs of (washed and dried) tarragon and leaving to infuse for a few days before using. You can make all sorts of "flavoured vinegars, and oils using the same principle. |
|
Method:
I prefer to do this using a small hand whisk in a small ceramic bowl, but it does work in an electric or handheld blender - just be careful you don't over-whizz. Pour the olive oil into a glass measuring jug with a pouring lip.
Whisk the egg yolks with the salt. Then add the olive oil a drop or two at a time, whisking energetically so the oil emulsifies with the egg yolks and doesn't curdle. Keep whisking and adding drops of oil, slowly, until the mixture starts to thicken. When you've used about half the olive oil you can afford to be a bit more liberal and pour faster, whisking non stop (this is great exercise for the biceps).
When all oil has been used up and you have a nice gloopy glossy mass, add either the tarragon vinegar or lemon juice a little at a time, whisking well between additions. Then add the warm water - this helps the mayonnaise keep for longer in the fridge. If when you take it out of the fridge the mass is a little too solid, place the jar in a saucepan or bowl filled with a little warm water and whisk until it smoothes out.
You can add a little smooth French mustard with the egg yolks to make a more "bitey" mayonnaise - this is particularly good over potato salad etc. You can also fold through a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped fresh herbs - eg, tarragon, parsley, chives (the classic herbes en Provence) at the end.
See the separate recipes for aioli - garlic mayonnaise - and pesto, which use the same kind of technique.