In general, I’m not a big fan of mayonnaise. I think it has a very real and very important, but somewhat minimal, place in food. I like a thin layer of mayo on a turkey sandwich to give it some moisture. I like it mixed with canned tuna. And I like a dash of mayo when I make crab dip. But when it comes to salads like potato salad, or worse – egg salad (cue gagging face) then mayonnaise is just too much. And yet, here I am posting a recipe for mayonnaise done three ways. Spoiler, the three ways are sriracha, garlic, and regular.  

Here’s what happened. A few weeks ago before Ryan and I went to see the Dalai Lama speak we went out to lunch at the Chicken Shop in Holborn. The place is lovely with charming decor, amazing chicken, and tasty mayonnaise. So this is the thing. Here in the UK when you order fries (chips) they ask you what sauce you want. Ryan and I always say ketchup. The server brings ketchup but then always brings mayonnaise too; because how could we not want mayo? Mayonnaise on fries is how it’s done here. I’ve tried it, it’s fine, but I’m going to choose ketchup every time.

And then the Chicken Shop gave us fries with house made garlic mayonnaise and my world turned around. It has so much flavor! It was zesty, creamy, and full of garlic flavor without any bitter taste. Homemade mayonnaise is so much better than the jar! Get out of the way ketchup, I don’t need you any more. Who knew mayonnaise could be so delicious?!

I decided I needed to try making mayonnaise at home. So I turned to Julia Child and Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Homemade mayonnaise always makes me think of the scene in Julie and Julia where Meryl Streep as Julia Child says that she has discovered “foolproof mayonnaise” and that it has “scientific workability.” Armed with Meryl Streep’s voice in my head I was ready to go. But obviously I couldn’t make just regular mayonnaise, I needed garlic mayonnaise to go with what I had discovered at the Chicken Shop.

For the garlic mayonnaise I used roasted garlic for a rich yet sweet flavor. It’s ultimately a bit thicker than regular mayonnaise but really delicious. I also made sriracha mayonnaise. I think I’ve had that before, but I can’t place where or when. I liked this idea because of the combination of spicy heat and creamy coolness. To test all three I made a batch of French fries and did some eating. My favorite turned out to be the sriracha. If you have other ideas for mayonnaise flavors let me know! I’m now officially into the idea of fries and mayonnaise together.

The crazy thing is that I made this by hand. I intended to use my stand mixer, but in the beginning there isn’t enough material in the bowl so the whisk couldn’t reach it. Since I had everything in the bowl already, I just switched to the regular whisk. I’m sure you can do it in a food processor (but I don’t trust mine) and I think an electric hand mixer would work too – but I decided to be hard core and use my arm strength. Surprisingly my arm didn’t hurt it just takes a long time.

Finally making mayonnaise is all about making an emulsion. The egg and oil doesn’t want to mix, but you’re going to make it! If while you’re doing this you aren’t getting a good emulsion and your mayonnaise splits add some cool water and whisk vigorously. You can read more about what to do on Sheknows.com. But friends, delicious mayonnaise can be yours and it’s not hard. Just put on some comfortable slippers, pop in your headphones, play your favorite podcast and get to work whisking. You can do this!

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The recipe for plain mayonnaise is pretty much unchanged, it’s the addition of roasted garlic and sriracha that are mine.

Messy level: Although mostly a pretty dish-free and clean recipe, I ended up with oil EVERYWHERE. I got it on my hands, it dripped down the side of the measuring cup as I poured it in drip by drip. I had a small oil slick, but that was my only mess.

Mayonnaise Done Three Ways

 

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Serves: ¾-1 pint mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice, plus a little more might be needed
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon dry or prepared mustard (I used a jar of Dijon)
• ½ pint/2 cups/16 ounces olive oil
• 2 tablespoons boiling water (boil water first then measure out the water)
• 4-5 cloves roasted garlic (optional, recipe for how to roast garlic to follow)
• 2-3 teaspoons sriracha hot sauce (optional)

Instructions

1. Use a large ceramic, glass or stainless steal bowl. Turn the hot water on from your kitchen sink. Let it run over the bowl to warm up a bit. Dry the bowl.
2. Add the egg yolks and using a whisk beat for 1-2 minutes until they are thick.
3. Pour in the vinegar/lemon juice, salt, and mustard. Beat for another 30 seconds.
4. Now for the tough part, incorporating the oil into the eggs. Add the olive oil a tiny bit at a time (drop by drop if you can manage) into the egg yolks. Beat with the whisk continuously until the sauce thickens. [Note: Julia Child says beating at the speed of 2 strokes per second is fast enough. To go drop by drop I held the measuring cup of oil with my left hand and just gently tipped the lip of the cup over the bowl, I then whisked with my right hand].
5. Every 30 seconds or so stop pouring the oil and just beat the eggs to make sure the oil really is incorporating.
6. Once you've used about ½ the oil and the sauce has started to thicken you should be out of the woods. You can now rest your arm a bit. Once you get back to beating you can add the olive oil in 1-2 tablespoons at a time. Still, be sure to beat thoroughly after each addition of oil.
7. If the mayonnaise becomes too thick or stiff, add a drop of vinegar/lemon juice to help thin it out.
8. When you're finished beating in the oil add the 2 tablespoons of boiling water. This is what Julia calls an "anti-curdling" method.
9. Now you have regular mayonnaise. If you'd like three types of mayonnaise divide your sauce into three. Set one aside to leave regular plain mayonnaise.
10. If you'd like roasted garlic mayonnaise, heat your oven to 400°F/205°C. Remove the garlic cloves from the bulb but leave the papery skin on. Drizzle with olive oil and then wrap in aluminium foil. Roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes. The garlic is ready when a knife easily pierces through. [Alternatively you could cut the top off the bulb of garlic, drizzle with oil, wrap in foil, and roast the whole thing use what you need and save the rest in the fridge.]
11. When the garlic is ready, peel off the skin then mash the garlic into a paste.
12. Mix the garlic paste in with ⅓ of your divided mayonnaise. It will make the sauce a bit thicker and chunkier, but with a nice rich, yet subtly sweet garlicy flavor.
13. With the remaining ⅓ of your mayonnaise add in 1 teaspoon of sriracha sauce. Taste. Add more, 1 teaspoon at a time (or ½ teaspoon at a time) until it reaches your desired spiciness. This will thin out your mayonnaise, but it's a wonderful blend of spicy hot and creamy coolness.
14. Now you have three flavors of mayonnaise for all your dipping and sandwich needs!

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