Mayonnaise

Do you remember when the only lettuces you could get were what we now know as iceberg lettuce?

And the salads made with these lettuces comprised the lettuce cut into thin strips and put into a salad bowl?

The ‘salad’ was then decorated with slices of hard boiled egg and slices of tomato and served with a dressing made from a can of sweetened condensed milk and vinegar.

Mayonnaise was considered far too expensive and was a real luxury in our home, mainly I think because eggs were seasonal (only available when the hens were laying) and often expensive.

And if the mayonnaise was made too quickly and the eggs and oil separated out instead of being smooth and creamy it was considered a waste.

The key to success with mayonnaise is to add the oil to the egg mixture very, very slowly and mix well all the time you are adding the oil..

Ingredients

2 egg yolks
1 cup of cooking or salad oil (Sunflower or canola oil works best)
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

Method

1. Combine egg yolks and mustard in a bowl using a whisk or egg beater.
2. Very slowly, add a small amount of the oil to the mixture in the bowl.
3. Rapidly whisk the oil into the yolk/mustard mixture until the oil is completely incorporated.
4. At this time, start to add the remaining oil to the egg mixture in the bowl, whisking rapidly.
5. Add a little salt to taste and store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 5 days.