Quick recipe for a zingy French mayonaise

Mayonnaise is basic when it comes to the repertoire of French cuisine. It is easy to make following a few simple steps… From it you can create many derivatives sauces such as, Tartare, aioli, anchovies, truffle, cocktail, rouille……. Ideal to use as a dipping sauce or a dressing for your salads, potato and rice salads.

The Mayonnaise is reported to be invented Porte Mahon by the duc de Richelieu the 28 of June 1756 near Paris.

The mayonnaise is an cold emulsified sauce. It means that it raise in volume through the action of mixing egg yolk and oil. The basic mayonnaise contains, egg yolks, vegetable oil, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. This why we call it a basic sauce. From it you can have many derivatives sauce such as Aioli, Tartare and cocktail sauce for the most well known.

Ingredients:

350 ml Vegetable oil (canola, sunflower, colza, but no olive oil)
40 g Egg yolk (2 egg yolks)
10 g Dijon mustard (1 soup spoon)
20 ml Fresh Lime juice (half a lime)
Salt & pepper (To taste)

Method:

Prepare a nice clean bowl. here i kept my eggs of the fridge for about 20 min.
Separate your egg yolks from the egg whites. Put the yolks in the bowl. You can do a meringue later on with the egg whites, or Macarons. You could freeze them for future use or make yourself a a protein omelette.
Add some good Dijon Mustard this will influence the taste of your mayonnaise. Whether you put a bit or little into it. The kind of mustard changes the taste of your mayonnaise.. As a Frenchman, i love this brand.
Add the mustard to the mayonnaise. Mustard is like egg yolk it acts as flavour but also as an emulsifier.. In other words it helps making the mayonnaise more stable.
Mix both ingredients for 5 seconds and leave it to room temperature for 2 minutes.. Important step to get ingredients at room temperature.
Often people struggle mixing ingredients in a bowl.. Why Because in on hand you have the whisk and in the other you pour the oil and the bowl starts going everywhere. Quick tip, use a towel to secure the base of your bowl.
Add the oil a little at the time. I mean a soup sponn at the time, mix well until you see the oil is fully incorporated in the yolks.
Mix in the oil.
Add a bit more oil.. You can use any kind of vegetable oil for this recipe but olive oil.. Olive oil tends to be bitter and we can use it for other recipe i will demonstrate in the future.
Keep mixing until the oil is FULLY mixed within the yolks/mustard mixture.
Keep repeating this action until all the oil is incorporated… If you do that slowly and gently you have no risk to split your mayonnaise. Mayonnaise splits for few reasons but mainly : 1- The ingredients were not at the same temperature 2- You added to much oil at once and it over saturated the egg yolks and it split as it becomes a runny mixture… Do not throw it away, there is a way to fix that.
Prepare your half lime juice
Add your half lime juice to the mayonnaise.. it will make it Zingy and the texture of the dressing softer.
Add a little bit of salt.
Add a little bit of cracked pepper.

Taste, taste , taste your seasoning add a bit more of salt and pepper if needed. Mayonnaise are best serve on the day and kept in the fridge at all time.

The mayonnaise is a cold emulsified sauce. It means that it raises in volume through the action of mixing egg yolk and oil. The basic mayonnaise contains, egg yolks, vegetable oil, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. This why we call it a basic sauce. From it you can have many derivatives sauce such as Aioli, Tartare and cocktail sauce for the most well known.

Tips:

Make sure that all your ingredients are at the same temperature. preferably room temperature as no one keeps the oil in the fridge
If your eggs are cold just separate them and mix them with the mustard for few seconds and leave them on the bench to get to room temperature.
Add the oil a tiny beat at the time specially if you do it by hand, the equivalent of a soup spoon at the time.
Incorporate the oil slowly and gently until its all in. The more oil you put the harder will become the mayonnaise.
Season at the end and taste.. Unbalanced seasoning will result on your mayonnaise tasting oily.

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