Is it worth making mayonnaise at home?

[scoots]

We go though a lot of mayonnaise, and I am looking to see if it's more cost effective to make it at home.

Does anybody have any experience with this? (I've read up on the process and I think I know what I'm getting into.)

What is the shelf life? I've read about a week.

Is there an improvement in the taste? I understand that there is.

I already have a mix master No.11 and a kitchen aid. Are oil drip feed funnels available for either? Which would do a better job?

Thanks

 

[toploader55]

Nothing to it.

The recipe that was drilled into our brains at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park is..

5 Egg Yolks (You can also use Pasteurized Egg Yolks if available)
! 3/4 pint of Salad Oil
2 tsp. Dry Mustard
1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 TBS. Sugar
2 tsp. Salt
2 TBSP Lemon Juice

Beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Add the Dry Ingredients and whisk (You can use a food processor without any special Oil Dropper thingy) Drizzle in the Oil while whisking or blending alternating with the Vinegar when the emulsion gets too thick. Finish adding the Oil and Vinegar then finish with the Lemon Juice.

This makes One Quart and should be fine for a week or so.

You will have a basic pretty darn good mayo and from there you can make Russian, Thousand Island, Blue Cheese and any other thick creamy style dressing.

You can add Pesto for Pesto Mayo etc.

This is also a better healthier Mayo as there are no Chemicals or Preservatives which everyone should be conscious of. Food has become a Lab experiment with all the crap manufacturers put in their products.

I hope you enjoy this. It is really easy and by chance it should break or curdle (You've added the oil too fast) Just start with a clean bowl, 2 egg yolks and drizzle the broken mixture into the new Egg Yolks.

(This revival works the same with a Hollandaise that has broke too !!! ) ; )

I like to make it by hand with a SS Bowl and Whisk.( It's Good Exercise) But you can use your mixer, Blender or Food Processor.

 

[turquoisedude]

I make my own mayonnaise. I've done the math and in my case, I can make it for much less than commercial mayo. As for shelf-life, I keep it no more than 2 or 3 days (just to be safe). I find that the taste is superior - I vary the flavour by using combinations of olive and canola oil or using lemon juice instead of vinegar. A home-made Thousand Island salad dressing made with home-made mayonnaise is soooo unlike anything you can buy, I swear you'll never go back!

I make mayonnaise in the blender - I've made it with Mixmasters (model 7, 10, and 12) but I find it's smoother in the blender.

However, when I'm planning a large party I will err on the side of caution and buy a jar of Hellman's for any dishes that will contain mayo. I don't need lawsuits from people claiming I gave them food poisioning... LOL

 

[gyrafoam]

That CIA recipie is a good one. Fresh lemon juice really makes a difference.

 

[kate1]

Homemade mayonnaise is delicious and definitely worth the effort, especially when you’re going to be using it in a recipe, say for a potato salad or dressing of some kind (homemade ranch dressing with homemade mayonnaise makes me weak in the knees). I’m sure the cost of just the ingredients is cheaper than buying prepared product if you have the time to spare making a batch or two a week. If you don’t necessarily have the time to spare, buying large bulk quantities is very cost effective and Hellman’s or Duke’s are both quite good. Personally, I prefer Duke’s for things I would otherwise use homemade for but don’t have the time or all the ingredients on hand and Hellman’s is my everyday mayonnaise but that probably comes down to preference.

 

[toploader55]

Just had a thought over my first coffee after re reading this thread...

Homemade Mayo will not be quite as "gelatinous" as store bought. So if it seems it's a tad bit loose, that's because it has no additives in it. If you want it tighter, add more yolks.

 

[bendix5]

Hi Bill, Here is a copy of (in her hand writing) my 95 year old mother in laws recipe for mayonnaise. She has made this for herself as long as I have known her. 50 years at least. We make it for our sandwiches on occasion. It is probably best to go and purchase a jar of your favorite brand for big things like potato salad etc. I would say try making your own with different oils and amount of spice. I like more mustard and lemon and sometimes throw in 1 extra egg. Have fun. Dano

 

[maytagbear]

A word of caution:

If anyone in your household or social circle is immunocompromised, the use of Davidson's Safer Choice Pasteurized eggs is highly recommended, in any uncooked sauce like homemade mayonnaise or barely cooked sauces, such as Hollandaise.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mikael3]

In my experience, hand-whisked mayonnaise is a bit “loose”, as people say.  Blender mayonnaise is thicker but troublesome.  I much prefer to make mine in the food processor; the resulting mayonnaise is very stiff and very unlikely to separate, and the processor is much easier to deal with than a blender.  The drawback is that you really have to make 2 cups in the processor—any less, and there isn’t enough egg at the beginning to come to the top of the blades.

 

I don’t use any kind of drip mechanism.  I just pour the oil very slowly at first, just a glug, and then another glug, gradually moving on to a thin, steady stream.

 

One thing I learned the hard way is that canola oil doesn’t work well at all.  I hate canola oil—it’s thin and gritty, like mineral oil, it has a sour taste, and it breaks down at low temperatures, filling the air with a fowl odor—but for some reason, I had to use it once, and the mayonnaise would not thicken.  It was thin and nasty.  My preferred oil is peanut oil, which I use for everything, not just mayonnaise.

 

If you want olive-oil mayonnaise, beware of using 100% olive oil in the mix.  The flavor is overwhelming.  Even half olive oil might be too strong for some, but you need at least one-fourth olive oil to get the flavor.

 

The food guy, Kenji López-Alt, makes mayonnaise with a plunge blender.  I’ve tried it and it works, but I prefer the food processor.

 

Two-Minute Mayonnaise Recipe

Using an immersion blender, you end up with a cup full of creamy, perfectly emulsified, real-deal, better-than-anything-you-can-buy mayonnaise.

www.seriouseats.com

 

 

[mikael3]

I’ll add that I don’t make my own mayonnaise for everyday use, but I always make it for potato salad and deviled eggs.  The egg flavor of homemade mayonnaise really comes out in recipes like that.

 

As for cost, though, I would not say that my homemade is cheaper, since I use peanut oil.  But for the flavor, when you really want or need it, homemade is the best.

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">I for one really admire those who make their own mayonnaise, just like people that can their own fruits and vegetables, make their own jams and jellies, bake magazine-quality stuff, etc. I suppose one of those things that drips the oil into the eggs would make homemade mayo a lot easier. This one's kind of pricey on Amazon but it looks fun.</span>

 

[foraloysius]

Using a plunge/stick/immersion/hand blender works better when you only use an egg yolk. The Bamix does a good job, although other blenders will do good too.

 

[tomturbomatic]

One of the features of the early Cuisinart Food Processors was a tiny hole at the bottom of the opaque plastic pusher for the feed tube. It was to drizzle oil into the egg yokes while making mayonnaise.

 

[sudsmaster]

I made mayonnaise about 40 years ago in college. It worked OK, and certainly had lots of flavor. I used a blender.

Since then I've been told the small hole in the white pusher for the Cuisinart food processor is specifically there to meter the oil for best emulsification of the oil/egg mixture. I'll have to try that some day.

As far as oils go, my current go-to veggie oil is safflower. It has a high smoke point, a high percentage of more desirable mono-unsaturated fats, and no bitter or stinky taste like canola. Sunflower oil would be another good one, although it's harder to find. I would definitely try safflower oil for homemade mayo.

As far as shelf-life goes, the acidity of the vinegar or lemon juice added to the mayo likely will have a bacteriostatic function. It's a common myth that foods with mayo in them spoil faster. In fact, they take longer to spoil because of the acidity of the mayo will retard but not completely prevent bacterial growth.