On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1203

ofaburner.Heatingtheyolkswiththeacidic
reduction also minimizes curdling; if the pH
is around 4.5, the equivalent of yogurt’s
acidity, the yolks can be safely heated to
195ºF/90ºC. (The acid causes the proteins to
repel each other, so that they unfold before
bonding to each other and form an extended
network rather than dense curds.) Cooks
concernedaboutsalmonellashouldmakesure
theyolksarecookedatleastto160ºF/70ºC,or
elseshouldusepasteurizedeggs.
OliveOilCanMakeCrazyMayonnaise
Mayonnaisecanbemadewithanykindof
oil. One popular choice, unrefined extra
virginoliveoil,oftenproducesanunstable
mayonnaise, one that forms properly, but
then separates just an hour or two later.
Ironically, the likely troublemakers are
molecules with emulsifying abilities: oil
molecules that have been broken into
fragments that have a fat-like tail and


water-soluble head, just like lecithin (p.
802).Theyareconcentratedintheoil,and
whenthecookbreakstheoilintodroplets,
they move to the droplet surface, where
they end up pushing the bulkier, more
effective egg emulsifiers off the droplet
surfaces.Becausethedropletsarecrowded
tightlytogether,thiscausesthedropletsto

coalesceandformpuddlesofoil.
This delayed disintegration of olive-oil
mayonnaise is well known in Italy, where
thesauceissaidto“gocrazy”(impazzire).
Old and improperly stored oils are most
likelytohavesuffereddamagetotheiroil
moleculesandthereforetocauseproblems
in mayonnaise. Two ways to avoid crazy
mayonnaise are to use refined olive oil,
and to use extra-virgin oil as a flavoring,
with the bulk of the oil being any
flavorlessrefinedoil.
MakingHollandaiseandBéarnaiseThere
areatleastfivedifferentwaysofmaking