Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons of french mustard

2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar

The juice of half a lemon

2 teaspoons of cream

Freshly ground salt and black pepper

Good quality vegetable or rape seed oil (not olive oil -  too strong)

Preparation:

This is a whole heap easier to do with a food processor or some kind of a mechanized whisk. It can be done in a bowl by hand but your wrists will be aching by the end of it. And I'm all for physical excersize, but if there's one part of my anatomy that doesn't need a work out its probably my wrists. ANYWAY! Separate the yolks from the whites of two eggs. Put yolks only into your bowl. Add the mustard and mix. Now start to add your oil. The technique for doing this effectively is to add a small stream then whisk it thoroughly in. Then another small stream, then whisk again and so on. I've seen celebrity chef's on the TV add a constant stream while the kitchen processor is left running. It may be the deign of my machine but when I tried to do it that way most of the oil got splashed around the side of the inside of my bowl rather than got added to the mixture it self. Then when I finished I had big oily reservoirs around my lovely mayonnaise when it started to settle.

Once the mixture has started to thicken add your vinegar (which will water it down a bit) then carry on  with the oil. Once it's started to thicken again add your lemon juice. Once that is fully mixed in then add your cream, salt and pepper. Then continue with the gradual oil adding ritual. Its difficult to tell you exactly how much oil to add. It depends how thick and gloopy you want your mayonnaise to be. The general rule is that the more oil you add the thicker it gets. My test to see if it's ready is to spoon out a little bit on a teaspoon. If it keeps its shape and wobbles if you give it a gentle shake then it's ready.

Once you've got the basic method for making mayonnaise you also have the bedrock for making salsa verde which is beautiful with meaty fish, also sauce marie rose and thousand island dressing and a lot of others.