While mayonnaise is a wonderful condiment, quality brand mayonnaise can be relatively expensive. However, with a little work and only a handful of ingredients, you can conjure forth an appetising amount of spreadable sorcery you can call your own and at only a fraction of the usual cost.
Components
Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of freshly chopped tarragon
- 1 teaspoon of freshly chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon of freshly chopped mint
- Salt (optional)
- Pepper (optional)
[the_ad_placement id=”manual-placement”]
Hardware
- 1 wire whisk
- 1 bowl
Directions
- Step 1: Whisk the eggs and lemon juice together in a bowl.
- Step 2: Slowly whisk in the olive oil. You only want to add a few drops at a time. Your goal in this step is to establish a thick and velvety smooth texture.
- Step 3: Stir in all of the freshly chopped herbs.
- Final Step: Add salt and pepper to personal taste.
Substitutions and Other Facts about Herbal Mayonnaise
- Mayo is an emulsion of eggs, oil, and lemon juice. However if you are out of lemon juice, consider using vinegar in its place. The lecithin within the egg yolks serves as the emulsifying agent in the chemical reaction needed to create mayo.
- Some traditions will add mustard to the recipe. However, this turns an emulsion into a remoulade, akin to tartar sauce, and results in a slightly different consistency with a different taste. If you are considering adding mustard to your herbal mayonnaise, take into account the flavor profiles of the herbs you decide to utilize. You want to make the best-tasting mayo possible, so work with complimentary, rather than conflicting, flavors.
- Despite the very French-sounding name, the sauce and sandwich spread we know as mayonnaise actually gets its name from the Spanish city of Mahón. After a victory by the French against the British, a serving French nobleman by the name Armand de Vignerot du Plessis brought its “salsa mahonesa,” also known as “maonesa” to court. The name “mayonnaise” is thus the “French-ification” of a word that originally appeared in the Spanish and Catalan languages.
- A rival theory behind the origin of the sauce’s name posits that it was always a French sauce, derived from the Old French word “moyeu,” which meant “egg yolk.”
- In addition working as a sandwich spread, mayonnaise also makes a wonderful complementary flavor in some BBQ sandwiches, as well as an alternative condiment for French fries.
- The first instance of commercially sold mayonnaise occurred in America. In 1907, Philadelphia’s Amelia Schlorer sold her own recipe in her family’s grocery store.