Sunday, June 14, 2009

Where I Make Mayonnaise With One Egg

I bought myself a hand blender yesterday. It's a Cuisinart style. On and off. The one I used to have was cordless and had a milk whipper. They don't seem to make that kind anymore and I'd been wanting one. Got the yen tonight to make something.

This could be titled One Egg Mayonaise. I went searching for recipes...some years ago I got into a mayonnaise making frenzy and was trying out all sorts of variations. Wrote them down too. Except, now I can't find them, so I did what all clueless cooks do...I Googled mayonnaise recipes.

Now, technically this is a blog whereupon I get hints and tips from those old naked ones who've passed on. (Tell me again? You don't wear clothes in Heaven?) I'm teasing. Anyway, I did not seek help from on high and decided this time to pound away at it myself.

The recipes I kept coming up with called for either one or two yolks. I hate wasting anything and did not particularly want to freeze the egg whites. I know I would forget they were in the freezer and I swore all those recipes I'd fiddled with years ago only called for one egg at a time. So, I finally found a recipe that called for one egg. And, it is simple. Here's what I ended up with which is not what was on the internet...I tend to add this and that.

Break one egg into the handy beaker cup that came with my hand held stick beater. Take the juice of one lemon (mine had a slice removed from it, but was mostly all there) and squeeze out the juice. I was looking for 1 tablespoon. It yielded a bit more than that and I did, in the end use the whole thing.

I beat the egg and lemon mixture for a few seconds. Then, I began pouring in the oil. Beating and slowly pouring and before I was done pouring the mixture had emulsifed so well that now the beaker was spinning around too. This is where you wish you had 3 hands. So, I just dumped in the tail end of the oil and with a hand holding the beaker did the up and down thing with the beater. I tasted it and it was horrible. I'd forgotten about seasoning it.

So, I guess I put in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mixed that up. Still sort of yucky. Then, I spun my turntable with all my spirces on it and found some Beau Monde. Definately, some of that would be good. Then, I went looking for some dried mustard. In some of the recipes I'd looked at that was one of the ingredients. Couldn't find any, so this batch has no mustard. Then, I figured, "How about some pepper?" Right. I used some black pepper. Then, on the third or fourth spin of my spice turntable I spied some white pepper. I used some of that. Still, the mayonnaise didn't taste quite like I wanted it to taste.

Then, the sweet tooth in me went off and I thought, "It needs sugar!" Right, that was exactly what it needed. Two tiny spoonful's from the sugar bowl and stirred a bit more with the spatula and voila, a very nice mayonnaise.

One Egg Mayonnaise with No Mustard

1 egg
Juice of one lemon
1 cup vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
Beau Monde seasoning
About 1 teaspoon of sugar (more or less)

Beat in a blender or with a stick hand blender the egg and lemon juice. Very, very slowly add the oil. If you can get somebody in your house to come hold the container while you are doing this so much the better. Leave off with the mixer and wield your spoon or spatula. Begin adding in your spices. Taste as you add so you can be certain you are going to like it in the end. Put it in the fridge. This tastes better after it is cold. Good on sandwiches, tuna, potato or macaroni salad. Lie to members of your family about where it came from and they will tend to eat it. Especially if you use white pepper rather than black pepper.

Be proud of your mayonnaise.