Last year I decided to start making my own mayo. I had heard both that it was terrifying and awful and impossible to get right, and that it was really easy, so I wasn't sure what to expect. My first attempt was awful. It never came together, no matter how long I beat the eggs and oil for. My next came out ok, but I used olive oil and it had a distinctively oily flavour. And then from there, it took off. I can now whip up a bowl of mayo in under 10 minutes to go with whatever we are having and we rarely use store bought mayo any more. I have been playing with different combinations of flavours and ingredients (beyond the basic egg yolk and oil). I always start with the basic ratio of 1 egg yolk to 3/4 c oil from Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat cookbook (it is to her that I owe my figuring out of the art of mayo mixing). After that, I play. Here are a few recent ones.
Ingredients:
Lemon and Sage Mayo
-> Made specially for turkey sandwiches:
1 egg yolk
3/4 c sunflower seed oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp crushed sage
salt and pepper to taste
Lime and Chilli Cacao Mayo:
-> Made for a sweet potato fries and grilled cheese sandwich lunch
1 egg yolk
3/4 c sunflower seed oil
Juice of 1 lime
1 (generous) tsp Aloha Chilli Spiced Cacao
Salt to taste
Herby Vinegar Mayo:
-> Made for the Chicken and Waffles
1 egg yolk
3/4 c sunflower seed oil
1/8 - 1/4 c herb infused white wine vinegar (according to consistency and taste)
Season-all salt mix (or a similar homemade spiced and herby salt mix like I used) to taste
Red Wine Mayo:
-> Made for roasted artichokes (failed) then successfully for falafel salads
1 egg yolk
3/4 c rapeseed oil
1 - 2 tbsp red cooking wine
1-2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sumac
Salt to taste ( I used herby Alpine salt)
Apple Cider Vinegar Mayo:
-> made for roasted veg with traditional Swiss sausage
1 egg yolk
3/4 c sunflower oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
I've really enjoyed trying out different flavour combinations for mayo, but also experimenting with different forms of acid. Mayo needs some acid, I find, in order not to taste like simply food lube and nothing more, but the choice of acid has an impact no only on the flavour but also the perception of creaminess, and on the texture. Red wine, for example, only mildly acidic, created a mayo that was smooth and creamy but still had a rich, layered flavour. I have had a couple of failed mayos. The first time I tried the red wine mayo, I think the problem was that I added the wine to the yolk too early. Whatever it was though, the egg foamed with the addition of the oil rather than coming together. I tried fixing it, but it refused to stop foaming. It was a tasty, but rather strange sauce. I found uses for it in other things, adding a richness to dishes, but qua mayo, it didn't really work. The second failed mayo of recent times was the apple cider vinegar one. That one I think, as with my very first mayo, I added the oil too quickly at the start (although less quickly this time than the first) and so the yolk stayed a dark orangey yellow and didn't thicken. I used Samin's method for fixing broken mayo from Salt Fat Acid Heat and it came together right away. The end result was a slightly liquidier mayo than I would otherwise have gone for, but it tasted fantastic and the goopier quality didn't end up being a problem. Other acids I would like to try for my mayo include white wine, red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar, and orange juice, but when I try them will depend on them matching up with something I am making so we'll see.
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