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Every Tuesday at 7:42 a.m. and 5:18 p.m., Tom Harte shares a few thoughts on food and shares recipes. A founder of “My Daddy’s Cheesecake,” a bakery/café in Cape Girardeau, a food columnist for The Southeast Missourian, and a cookbook author, he also blends his passion for food with his passion for classical music in his daily program, The Caffe Concerto.

Mayonnaise

What do paint and mayonnaise have in common? Preferably not much, except both are emulsions -- combinations of two liquids that do not mix. 

I can't imagine life without the common emulsions used in cooking: milk, cream, butter, and especially mayonnaise.  Real mayonnaise, not Miracle Whip, has always been de rigueur at our house and I've gone back to making my own ever since I paid a recent visit to the port of Mahon on the Mediterranean island of Minorca, where mayonnaise originated.

Mayonnaise was invented in 1756 to celebrate the successful siege during the Seven Years War of St. Philip's Castle in Mahon by the Duc de Richelieu. The duke's chef, hoping to prepare a victory feast that might compare favorably with the banquets at Versailles to which the duke was accustomed, planned on serving a sauce made of cream and eggs. But there was no cream in the kitchen, so he substituted olive oil and in honor of the victory at Mahon christened his invention "la sauce mahonnaise."

This is the generally accepted explanation of the origin of mayonnaise, though there are others.

But even though people disagree about the origin of mayonnaise, everybody agrees there is nothing like the homemade variety. As JuleeRosso and Sheila Lukins put it, "Homemade mayonnaise is so far superior to even the best commercial product, it's a wonder they share the same name."

It's too bad, then, that so many people have never tasted real mayonnaise or, worse yet, have developed a preference for the stuff that comes in a jar.Making mayonnaise at home is actually easy, and if you use a blender or a food processor, nearly foolproof, though making it by hand produces the silkiest sauce.

Ambrose Bierce called mayonnaise "one of the sauces which serve the French in place of a state religion." Try making your own to discover just how divine the real thing can be.

++++++Homemade Mayonnaise+++++

Do not use aluminum or copper bowls when making this classic recipe, adapted from the venerable Joy of Cooking, because they will react with the acid ingredients and affect color and flavor. The suggestions for variations can also be employed in a pinch to perk up store-bought mayonnaise.

Ingredients:
 

  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of ground white pepper
  • 1 cup vegetable oil, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Directions:

Whisk together the egg yolks, the lemon juice, salt and white pepper until smooth and light. Whisk in oil a drop at a time until the mixture starts to thicken. After about one-third of the oil has been incorporated, whisk in remainder a tablespoon at a time until thoroughly blended. Stir in Dijon mustard and further salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:

For green curry mayonnaise add to 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 to 3 teaspoons Thai green curry paste, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1/8 teaspoon Thai fish sauce and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro; for herb mayonnaise add to 1 cup mayonnaise 2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh herbs, such as tarragon, basil, chervil, chives, parsley, dill or oregano; for tomato-basil mayonnaise add to 1 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 3 tablespoons finely chopped basil, a dash of Tabasco, and salt and pepper to taste; for chipotle mayonnaise add to 1 cup mayonnaise, 1 finely chopped chipotle chile in adobo sauce, 1 clove minced garlic and 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro; for orange and ginger mayonnaise add to 1 cup mayonnaise 2 teaspoons grated orange peel, 4 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger and 2 tablespoons lime juice; for blueberry or raspberry mayonnaise substitute blueberry or raspberry vinegar for lemon juice in basic recipe, adding additional vinegar to finished product to taste.
 
 
 
 

Tom Harte is a retired faculty member from Southeast Missouri State University where he was an award-winning teacher, a nationally recognized debate coach, and chair of the department of Speech Communication and Theatre.
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