The Ardent Epicure

Hey guys.  Today, rather than just talking about something, I wanted to make something special, and share it with you.  To challenge myself a little, I also wanted to take on something new, making something I have never tried making before.  I realized that I have never made homemade mayonnaise, so I decided I would try and and see how I fared.  I was a little bit intimidated, but I decided to go through with it, to see if I could make it work.
After reading into it in several places, I decided to go with a fairly classic recipe from Julia Child.  However, rather than whisking it by hand, I used an electric mixer, because I am not as buff as she was!  I used a medium olive oil (not extra virgin), but depending on the flavor you want, and how you want to use it, you may use a lighter type of oil, or a mixture of olive oil and another oil.  Canola oil or safflower oil would work well here.  Just remember that if you use olive oil, you will have the taste of olive oil in your mayo, and this is especially true if you use a richer, extra virgin olive oil.  However, for my personal taste, I decided to use a pretty standard market olive oil. 

I also used a tip I found online and put the oil in a plastic salad dressing bottle, to simplify the act of dropping the oil in one drop at a time.  Trying to use a spoon to drop in the oil one drop at a time did not appeal to me very much!

Ingredients
3 eggs yolks
1 1/2 cups of oil (your choice of type)
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (and a couple more to add later as needed; I just juiced one small lemon)
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (plus more to add later, for taste)
1/4 teaspoon of mustard (you may use dried ground mustard seed, but I used a prepared dijon)
1-2 tablespoons boiling water
A medium-sized mixing bowl 
An electric mixer

Please note that this recipe may also be done manually with a wire whisk, and there are many other recipes that use a hand blender, a normal blender, or a food processor.  But for this recipe, I used a standard electric mixer.

WARNING: This product contains raw eggs.  This increases the possibility of food-borne illness.  Though it is fairly rare today, and generally considered safe to eat raw eggs when prepared properly, in a clean environment, be aware that the USDA has stated that raw eggs may carry pathogens that can cause Salmonella poisoning.  Please be safe and clean when preparing anything with raw eggs, meat, poultry or fish, and use raw products at your own discretion.
For more information regarding the use of raw eggs and Salmonella, please visit the USDA Web site.

Directions
Separate the egg yolks from the whites, and place the yolks in a separate container.  Do not allow any whites into the yolks.
Heat the mixing bowl under hot water for a couple of minutes, until it is warm, then dry it with a towel or cloth.
Start some water boiling on the stove.  Even though you will only need a tablespoon or two, make sure you add enough so that the water does not dry out while you are making your mayo.  Since you do not want to alter the flavor of your mayo, do not add any salt or oil to the water.
Place the dry bowl on a wet cloth, to keep it from slipping.
Place the egg yolks in the bowl, and beat them at the lowest setting for about a minute, until the egg yolks become sticky.

Add the tablespoon of lemon juice, the salt, and the mustard to the egg yolks, and beat the mixture to incorporate the items.
At this point, start adding the oil, one drop at a time.  As you are adding the oil do not stop mixing.  This part will take some time, but it is worth it.  Keep adding the oil a drop at a time, making sure each drop is incorporated into the mixture. 

At some point, the mixture will begin to stiffen and change texture.  This is when you may start to add the oil a bit faster, a spurt at a time, or in a steady thin stream. 

If the mixture becomes stiff and locks up, add a bit more lemon juice each time, to smooth it out.
Continue mixing in this manner until the oil is all incorporated.  Once you have added all of the oil and mixed it all in, add a tablespoon of boiling water, and mix that in as well.  If the mayo seems a bit too thick at this point, add one more tablespoon of boiling water.

Taste the mayo, and add more salt as needed.

Store in a container in the refrigerator.  It will keep for about ten days.  Do not keep fresh mayonnaise any longer than this, as it has no preservatives.

If you are comfortable making mayo, many ingredients can be mixed in to create a more interesting sauce.  You can make tartar sauce, garlic aioli, and you can add herbs to your mayo to make a great base for a chicken or potato salad.  Keep an eye out for my next mayonnaise adventure, garlic chipotle mayo!

Have any questions or comments?  Click the comment button below, or send me an e-mail at TruffleShuffle@TheArdentEpicure.com!
Thank you to Julia Child for her original mayonnaise recipe, as well as to Makiko Itoh from Just Hungry for the tip about the oil bottle.