Easy mayonnaise

 

 

Mayonnaise is a handy staple to have in the fridge at any time but I find myself reaching for it more during the summer months.  Who can resist a leftover Jersey Royal topped with a blob of wobbly, glossy mayonnaise?  There are so many picnic opportunities for the jar of mayo and it is essential for any number of salads or cold collations (now that’s a word I don’t often use).  Then there are chips, if you start dipping hot chips into this mayonnaise I predict you will struggle to stop.

Of course you can buy your mayonnaise and there are good ones available, but and this really is a proper but, none are as good as a jar of homemade.   Rich and unctuous with a satiny sheen, fresh yet savoury with a gentle hum of garlic – what is not to love.  I should mention that garlic isn’t traditional unless you are making an aioli (see Introduction) but having tried with and without, my lot prefer it with.

Like many other recipes using eggs, making mayonnaise is a form of alchemy and certainly isn’t difficult but there are a couple of important provisos.  The most crucial of these is to add your oil slowly, really slowly to start with, almost drop by drop.  Once the initial mix of the egg and other ingredients start to to thicken with the addition of the oil you can speed things up a touch but I tend to go pretty cautiously until I have thick and glossy mixture in the bowl.  I used to make mayonnaise with just egg yolks but when I saw an Ottolenghi recipe using a whole egg I adjusted my recipe and have been set on that ever since.  So much easier not to have a couple of egg whites winking at you from the fridge.

Mayonnaise

To make a simple aioli I would up the garlic to three cloves.  Whilst this might not have the authenticity to hold its head up in the South of France it works for me.

You can make the mayonnaise in a food processor but it is easier to use one with a small bowl otherwise the blade is chasing the egg around in rather a large space and it may not combine with the oil.  I find a hand held blender the easiest and most reliable method.

1 whole egg

1 heaped tablespoon of dijon mustard

1 clove garlic chopped (see Introduction)

1 heaped teaspoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vinegar, white wine or cider (tarragon vinegar makes a glorious mayonnaise)

500ml vegetable oil (or 400ml vegetable oil and 100 of olive oil) in a jug

Juicy of half a juicy lemon

Put the egg, mustard, garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar into a bowl and mix briefly with your hand held/immersion blender.  With the blender going start adding the oil, drop by drop initially.  Once you can see the ingredients emulsifying you can up the oil to a thin but steady stream.  When all the oil is added and you have a thick and wobbly mayo, add most of the lemon juice and give a final whizz.  Taste, it should be spot on but you can add a little more lemon juice or salt if you wish.  A jar of this lasts for ages in the fridge but it tends to go pretty quickly.

 

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Chocolate Mayonnaise cake

Years ago I worked as a waitress in a restaurant in Yorkshire and I would recite the pudding list to the customers.  Whenever I cam to the Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake there would be a lot of oohing and “how weirds”!  Admittedly it sounds a little strange but the principle of eggs and fat or oil are bang on as ingredients for a cake. They are just already combined for you in mayonnaise.  Foolishly I never got that original recipe but after some experimenting I came up with this.  Unusually for a cake I think it is better the day after you make it as it seems to become more fudgy and although I thought it might be a bit rich for children, I offered it for tea recently and seconds and thirds were required…

I mention it now in particular because it is a great recipe to have up your sleeve in an emergency.  Whilst you may run short of butter or eggs over the holidays, there is almost always a jar of mayonnaise in the fridge standing by for those cold turkey sandwiches.   So if you don’t like Christmas cake or just want to rustle up a cake for tea, why not try this.  Happy Christmas!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

I usually dust this with cocoa as I like that bitter edge but I couldn’t resist a snowy fall of icing sugar today.

250g self raising flour

55g cocoa powder plus a little extra for dusting

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

200g golden caster sugar

220g mayonnaise

200ml water

Icing sugar or extra cocoa to serve

Preheat the oven to 180.  Butter and flour (or cocoa) a loose bottom 23cm tin.  Sift the flour and cocoa together, then add the remaining ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated and smooth, either with a hand held beater or in a mixer.  Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 30-40 minutes until if feels firm to the touch on top.  Cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely.  Dust with cocoa or icing sugar before serving.  Serves 8.

If you want a slightly denser (in a good way!) cake to serve for a pudding, look no further than my Chocolate Pudding Cake which I posted, funnily enough, last December.

Chocolate Pudding Cake