Conference turris::cooks

    You cannot make mayonnaise without eggs, which is the basic ingredient
    in it besides oil! What you want is a synthetic spread but that, if
    done at home, cannot be called mayonnaise.  I've made mayonnaise all my
    life, and here is the recipe
    
    1 egg (whole)
    1 cup olive oil, the best quality you can find
    juice of 1 lemon
    salt and petter to taste
    
    Break the egg into a blender, add salt, pepper and blend at high speed
    till thoroughly blended, then add oil, in the finest thread over the
    egg keeping the blender running, make sure it emulsifies, (it will get
    thick very quickly) add a bit of lemon juice to thin it a bit and
    continue on with oil and lemon juice till you finish both, let it rest
    a few minutes and taste again for seasonigs, rectify salt if needed.
    
    It can be stored in the fridge for 2 weeks keeping it covered.  

    
    Eggless mayonnaise:
    
    3/4 Cupful of Olive Oil
    1 teaspoonful Icing Sugar 
    1 teaspoonful Mustard
    1 teaspoonful salt
    1 small Baked Potato
    2 tablespoonfuls Vinegar
    
    Peel and very finely mash the potato, then stir in the mustard,
    sugar and salt.  Add half the vinegar and rub the mixture through a fine
    sieve, then slowly stir in the oil and remainder of the vinegar.
                               ***********    
    The above is the recipe as it appears in Mrs. Craig's 1932 Cookbook.
    I make this and it is superb!!  I do suggest using it up within
    a few days as it does not keep especially well but it has a wonderful
    flavour and texture and can be used in anything from sandwiches
    to salads to cooked food.  I make it in the food processor as it
    really brings out the starch in the potato and makes the base nice
    and creamy.  Follow the recipe using the blender or food processor
    in place of the sieve.
    
    I warn you.. this does taste and look like mayo!!!
    
    gailann
    
    

    Hello,
    
    
    The real french "Mayonnaise" recipe is very simple to do:
    
    1 (or 2) york (the real recipe, but not necessary)
    1 spoon of mustard
    some vinegar or some lemon
    salt and pepper
    oil (never olive oil! the olive oil is used for other kinds of sauces)
                                
    In a bowl you put the york (2 if you need a big quantity), the mustard
    (the quantity depends on the taste you wish... you can use spicy
    mustard, mustard with herbs, each kind you like), the salt and
    the pepper. Then you add some drops of vinegar or lemon, to dissolve/melt
    the salt. You turn with a fork or a whip, pourring little by little
    the oil until you get the mayonnaise.
                                   
    If you don't want to use eggs, you have to use more mustard. I know
    that some people are using 1 spoon of cream cheese/yoghourt, but
    I never tried it.
    When you have the needed quantity, you can add more lemon (take
    care it will be more liquid), then herbs like tarragon, parsley,
    etc...
    
    For a cocktail sauce (with crab meat, shrimps, cold fish, vegetables
    pates,...) you add tomato ketchup, some drops of tabasco, and a
    spoon of cognac.
    
    For a "Macedoine" (Russian salad), you add one smashed boiled egg
    to your mayonnaise.
    
    Regards
    Patricia
                     
    
    
    
      

    re .3
    Patricia,
    
    What is york?  Or did you mean "yolk"?
    
    Nancy
    

    These mayo recipes sound similar to my mother's, which is made in a
    double-boiler.  I may have mentioned this somewhere else before, but I
    make "spread" with tofu, which eliminates all the oil.  Usually, if I
    use half a block in a stir-fry, I'll put the other half in a strainer
    to drain a while, then toss into blender with dry mustard, dill weed,
    pepper, etc.  Or, if you start with a whole block, blend the whole
    thing, then divide and add flavorings to each portion.
    
    This isn't the real stuff, but it serves the purpose very well - we use
    as a sandwich spread and in chicken or tuna salad.  An alternative is
    1% or 1/2% cottage cheese, blended to smooth out.  Half a packet of low
    calorie (no fat) Ranch dressing mix spices it up - then you can use it for
    dip.
    
    Still saying "YUK"?  My husband and I have lost over 100 pounds since
    July, and cutting out the fat is one of the reasons why!
    
    Terry
    

RE: .0, .1, .2

Real mayonnaise always contains eggs and oil, at least according to the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration.  Kraft Imitation Mayonnaise has to have the
word "imitation" in it because they cut out 90% of the oil in the recipe.  .2
couldn't legally be called mayonnaise if commercially marketed because it
isn't made with eggs.

This doesn't mean that recipes such as .2 don't taste and work perfectly fine,
however.

--PSW

    I guess by now everyone has tried "Dijonaisse" or at least heard the 
    annoying commercial.
    
    I make my own: 1/2 Grey Poupon and 1/2 mayonaisse (Kraft Free, of
    course!) It's really great on sandwiches and as a cooking sauce for
    chicken and especially fish.

    Has anyone made mayonaisse with one of the hand blenders like the one
    made by Braun?  The recipe has long since been lost with the other
    paper work but we still have the blender.
    
    Any help?
    
    Larry

    This is from memory, but we used to make homemade mayo all the time
    using older versions of the hand blenders.  Amounts that follow are not
    exact, but I think by the time we had been making mayo for several
    years, we weren't using exact amounts.
    
    2 cups oil - your choice, we used either olive or safflower
    1 egg
    pinch of salt
    optional:
    	minced garlic 1-2 cloves
    	pepper
    	other seasoning - tarrogon was nice, chives, basil
    
    pour oil into jar (used to use a large skippy glass jar, didn't need to 
    			transfer mayo, and a tall/skinny container seemed 
    			to work better)
    break egg into oil
    put blender into mixture so blade is at bottom of container
    turn on and leave in place until bottom of mixture has turned to mayo
    slowly lift blades and integrate oil into mixture
    once most of oil is mixed in, add other spices, seasonings and move
    handmixer up and down through the mixture
    
    hope this helps!
    
    janetb.
    

Wow!

Is it really that simple?

I've tried several "hand" attempts with a whisk from several references
which always talk about "beating the egg yolk nearlly to a froth" and
then "beating in the oil drop by drop, very slowly, so as not to cause
the mayonnaise to collapse", and they've always been miserable failures.
Somehow I never thought to try the hand blender approach, not having
any recipe.

    I've never tried doing mayo by "hand", just with the hand-mixers. and I
    haven't tried it with any of the newer models. The ones we used were
    actually brough from Spain by my sister about 15 years ago. We had to
    buy special adapters for the plugs so we could use them in US
    electrical outlets. I don't know if these older mixers make any
    difference - but they made mayo without any problems. I don't think I
    remember during the 10 years I was home while we made mayo, anytime that
    it didn't work. 
    
    My folks stop making it a few years ago when the warnings about raw
    eggs started coming out. And, since we rarely use mayo, I don't make it
    in my house. so, can't tell you how the newer hand mixers do.
    
    good luck!
    
    janetb.

    No vinegar or lemon juice, Janet?  I've never made mayo (it's been a
    lot of years!) without one or the other.  The vinegar or lemon juice
    (supposedely) has enough acid to "cook" the egg, making salmonella less
    of a worry.  I don't have a recipe anymore, though.  The very best mayo
    (and I'm not a big mayo eater, either) I ever had was made with lemon
    juice.  The flavor was incredible!  Wish I still had the recipe.  --S

    Finally had time to look at my mayo recipes...
    
    Standard/generic mayo
    
    3/4 cup Safflower oil
    1/4 cup olive oil
    1 egg
    several drops of wine vinegar or lemon joice
    scant 1/4 tsp. salt
      (optional: garlic, season salt, basil, pepper, dry mustard)
    
    Mix - using hand mixer, with tall skinny container, holding beater on
    bottom til mixture starts to thicken, gradually move beater up and down
    until all oil is mixed in
    
    Note - if it doesn't thicken, add another egg
    ------------------------------------------------------
    Modification to standard recipe - this recipe was used as a salad
    dressing in a restaurant in NY that was owned by the brother of a
    friend. I don't remember now if it mixed up as thick as mayo, but it
    was very good (and I think it did get thick)
    
    2 Tbl. sharp mustard
    1/4 cup + 2 tsp. Tarragon Vinegar
    1 TBL. sugar
    1 1/2 tsp salt
    1 1/2 tsp. pepper
    1/4 clove garlic
    1 egg yolk  (we used whole egg)
    1 pint oil
    
    
    
    hope this helps!
    
    janetb.