Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 lemon
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Step 1
Put the egg yolks and mustard in a bowl and slowly, SLOWLY add the vegetable oil while whisking at the same time (take a damp towel and make a ring out of it, put it under the bowl so it won't spin while you whisk). Before you've added all the oil, add the lemon juice and then add the rest of the oil (might not need it all- depending on the thickness of your mayonnaise)
There is a bit of food chemistry involved in making the mayo emulsion. The acid in the lemon juice and the mustard are reacting with the egg protein and oil fats. Making an emulsion is like building a chain linked fence and to do it successfully you have to allow the reaction to occur at a slow but steady rate. Thus the need to add ingredients in the proper order and at a rate that optimizes the "chain linking" reaction. Any setting on the food processor is too powerful to use. A hand whisk is your best bet.
Whisk together the lemon juice and Dijon, whisk in your RT egg yolk(s), then slowly drizzle the oil in a tablespoon at a time. Keep whisking. If oil separates it was added too quickly, to repair this put a teaspoon of Dijon in a new bowl, while whisking, add a tablespoon of the first batch to the Dijon, keep whisking, adding more tablespoons of the first batch. This will repair the "damaged" mayo. Season with salt, pepper, fresh squeezed garlic, or chipotle powder