The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 997

clamattheirfather’ssideonCapeCod,orperhapstheday
theyfoundoutthatDarthVaderwasLuke’sfather.Maybeit
waswhentheylearnedthatplayingoutsidecanactuallybe
more fun than watchingHe-Man, or when they discovered
that light behaves as both a waveand a particle. For me, it
wasthefirsttimeIsawmayonnaisebeingmade.‡
When I was a kid, I never once thought about where
mayonnaise came from. I mean, it’s that kind of creamy,
jiggly stuff that comes in a jar with a blue lid, right? I’d
alwaysjustassumeditcamefrom...somegiganticpumpaction mayonnaise dispenser, perhaps in Wisconsin or
Nebraska,oneofthosestatesthattomypreadolescentmind
seemed most likely to produce tons of mayo. I remember
the very first time I saw mayonnaise being made. It was
during a late-night infomercial for handheld immersion
blenders (a new technology at the time, and theIt kitchen
gadget).Thehostputanegginthebottomofacup,poured
some oil on top, placed the immersion blender in there,
pushedthebutton,and,withinamatterofseconds,theegg
and oil came together into creamy, opaque, white
mayonnaise.
My wife and I have recently been discussing what we’d
like to name our children. She, being South American,
wants our firstborn daughter to have the beautiful Spanish
nameSalomé.Itoldherthatshecannameourfirstdaughter
Salami as long as I can name my first son Mayonnaise in
honor of my favorite condiment. We’ll see who gives in
first.
As a sandwich spread or sauce, mayonnaise is a big
divider.Iusedtobefirmlyonthe“deathbeforemayo”side

ofthedivide—keepitawayfromthebreadatallcosts—but
after having been slowly weaned onto it by means of
excellenthomemadeversions,I’vecometoloveitsomuch
thatI’llevenabidetheblue-toppedjarredstufffromtimeto
time.Atitsbest,itiscreamy,tangy,andlightonthepalate,
withtheabilitytoaddrichnesstoadishwithoutweighingit
down. More often than not, though, it’s either a poorly
made, heavy, greasy, underseasoned goo or overly sweet,
gloppystufffromajar.OKinapinch,buthardlysomething
you’d want to, say, dip your asparagus into or use as the
baseofaCaesarsaladdressingortartarsauce.
So what is it that transforms two ingredients—egg yolks
andoil—thatarekindoficky(that’satechnicalterm)toeat
on their own into a luxuriously rich, tangy, creamy spread
that’s not greasy in the slightest, despite consisting of over
75 percent oil? It’s called anemulsion, and it’s one of the
most important concepts to understand in the kitchen. An
emulsion is what keeps your vinaigrettes clinging to your
lettuce. It’s what keeps your cheese smooth and stretchy
when it melts (we touched a bit on cheesy emulsions in
Chapter7).Anemulsionis,quiteliterally,whatkeepsyour
gravyboatflowing.Let’stakeacloserlookatthisfinestuff,
shallwe?
MayoBasics
In its loosest definition, mayonnaise is a flavored emulsion
of minute particles of fat suspended in water. The tiny
globulesofsuspendedfathaveaverydifficulttimeflowing
around once they are separated by a thin film of water,
whichiswhatgivesmayonnaiseitsviscosity.Fortherecord,