I used to be afraid of making homemade mayonnaise in the same way some people are afraid of attempting soufflés. But once you let go of fear, it's amazing what you can do :)
It's both an art and a science, but it only takes six ingredients, a food processor, and a little faith in yourself...
1 room temperature egg
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground mustard
1 1/4 cups canola oil
2 T white or apple cider vinegar
1 T lemon juice
Use the blade attachment, and add the egg, salt, mustard, and 1/4 cup of the oil to your work bowl. Start blending.
S-l-o-w-l-y drizzle in another 1/2 cup of oil, it should be starting to thicken now.
Stop the food processor, scrape the sides, add the acids.
Continue to blend, and drizzle in the remaining oil. Blend it until it thickens, but be careful! If you blend it for too long, the emulsion will "break" and create an unusable mess of wasted ingredients.
But if you do it right, it's lovely!
Cuisinart food processors have a hole in the feed tube that drizzles the oil in at a perfect rate. If you don't have a Cuisinart, then use a squeeze bottle or a disposable cup with a small hole poked in the bottom. I've used both methods successfully with a blender and an immersion blender/canning jar, but the Cuisinart gave me the creamiest mayonnaise.
Now, I only use homemade mayonnaise! It's cheaper, it tastes better, and I know exactly what's in it :)
Labels: food, recipes, vegetarian
