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La Belle Cuisine
Mayonnaise
 
Cook and the Gardener:
A Year of Recipes and Writings
from the French Countryside
by Amanda Hesser, 1999, W. W. Norton &
Company, Inc.
“I like
fresh mayonnaise so much I often smear it on bread for a snack. The
bread,
of course, is merely a vehicle for the lemony, yellow sauce. Use it as a
basic summer recipe; it goes well with any blanched summer vegetable or on
any sandwich, for that matter, with or without vegetables. Mayonnaise is
also
lovely with herbs swirled into it. Basil mayonnaise tossed with warm
sliced
potatoes, parsley mayonnaise with fresh peas and green beans, oregano
mayonnaise slathered on a sandwich layered with fat, juicy slabs of August
tomatoes – you can get hungry thinking of ways to use it!
Mayonnaise can be made in either a food processor or an electric mixer
fitted
with a whisk. I have given instructions for doing it by hand because
I find it
is
just as quick, and I like to see it thickening with each stroke
of the whisk."
Standard Mayonnaise
Makes 1 to 1
1/2 cups
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Coarse or kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
1 – 1 1/4 cups best-quality olive oil
(remember, the taste of the
olive oil
will be clearly reflected
in the taste of the mayonnaise)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice,
and a
little
salt and pepper, until the salt dissolves and the mixture
begins to
thicken slightly. Add the olive oil one drop at a time, letting
the mixture emulsify
after each addition. As the mayonnaise thickens, you
may add
the oil at
a faster rate, in a very slow, steady stream, creating a
thick
yellow sauce
with
a consistency close to that of tube paint. (If you
prefer a looser
mayonnaise you can whisk in a little cream at the end.)
After all the oil
is added, fold in the vinegar with a spatula.
Taste and
adjust the seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, or lemon juice
as needed.
Keep refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Note:
If the mayonnaise breaks (if the oil and egg begin to separate), stop
what
you’re doing and take a deep breath. Get another bowl and break a
fresh
egg
yolk into it. Then whisk in the broken mayo a little at a time.
It should
emulsify fine, with no harm done.
Herb Mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups Standard Mayonnaise
3 tablespoons finely chopped herbs
(e.g., basil, parsley, chervil, oregano,
sage, lemon balm, thyme, marjoram or
hyssop, alone or mixed)
2 shallot lobes, chopped fine
Fold herbs and shallots into Standard Mayonnaise recipe with
a rubber spatula.
Mayonnaise with Fines Herbes
1 1/2 cups Standard Mayonnaise
1 tablespoon finely chopped tarragon leaves
(about 3 branches)
1 tablespoon finely chopped chervil leaves
(about 8 sprigs)
1 tablespoon thinly sliced chive blades
(about 12 blades)
Fold the herbs into the Standard Mayonnaise recipe with
a
rubber spatula.
Aļoli
“The
proportions I use for Aļoli come from Elizabeth David’s essay on making a
proper aioli in her book ‘French Provincial Cooking’. Typical of her prose,
she prods you along knowingly through her instructions, lacking no crucial
details,
to a result that captures the beauty of the food: “Aļoli is indeed
one of the most
famous and most beloved of all Provenēal dishes. The
magnificent shining
golden ointment which is the sauce is often
affectionately referred to as the
‘butter of Provence.’ ” Mine is simply an
adaptation.
1 1/2 cups Standard Mayonnaise
16 cloves garlic
In a large mortar pound the garlic cloves to a pulp with the
pestle. Omit the mustard and pepper from my Standard Mayonnaise and add the
garlic pulp
to the bowl with the salt and lemon juice. This dressing is
quite strong; it is supposed to be. There is no rule, however, against
reducing the amount of garlic. You will find that if you make this in the
spring with fresh new garlic, 16 cloves may seem just fine, but once garlic
dries a bit, it becomes pungent and tingly in the mouth. Use your judgment.
"Aioli epitomizes the heat, the power, and the joy of the Provencal sun,
but it has another virtue-- it drives away flies."
~ Frederic Mistral
Egg Safety Information
MORE TO COME!
Additions
and variations, storing, trouble-shooting,
cooked egg mayonnaise. Stay tuned!
Julia Child's Mayonnaise
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