The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 1000

thislargegroupofnerdswhojustenteredandhaveastrong
desiretojointhem.
So it is with oil.Trickle it into the egg yolk base slowly,
and you can form a strong, stable emulsion. Pour it in too
rapidly,andyou’llneverbeabletoseparateitintodroplets
small enough, and, what’s worse, even if you’ve already
formed a stable emulsion, you run the risk of breaking it.
This is the greatdifficulty when it comes to mayonnaise,
anditvexeseventhebestofcooks.

Mayobreaksifyoutrytoaddoiltoofast.
Mayonnaise is one of my favorite foods. I’m not one of
those folks who wakes up in the middle of the night and
pullsajaroutofthefridgetoeatwithaspoon—atleastnot
yet—butI’vemadealotofitinmylife.Somepeopleswear
by the food processor, but the easiest method by far is the


very method that I witnessed on that infomercial all those
yearsago:usinganimmersionblender.Byplacingtheegg
yolksandotherflavorings(usuallymustardandlemonjuice
along with a splash of water to lighten the texture) in the
bottom of a tall, narrow cup and carefully pouring oil on
top, you create two distinct layers: water-based liquid with
the fat floating on top of it. If you then slowly plunge the
headoftheblendertothebottom—intothewaterpart—and
flip the switch, you create a vortex that slowly but surely
pulls the oil down into it, so the oil is fed into the blended
egg yolks in a slow, steady stream. Before your very eyes,
you see a creamy mayonnaise forming, starting from the
bottomofthecontainerandslowlyworkingitswaytoward

thetop.Ifyoudon’townanimmersionblender,getone,if
onlyforthispurpose!
FoolproofMayoWithoutaHandBlender
OK, you’re stubborn and you flat out refuse to buy an
immersionblender.Whatthen?Well,youcouldmakeyour
mayonnaisebyhand(it’sreally,reallytough),butifyou’ve
gotafoodprocessor,you’reinluck.Withenoughpractice,
you can easily make mayonnaise in the food processor by
dumping your eggs and flavorings in, then slowly trickling
in the oil with the machine running. Problem is, it doesn’t
always work, particularly for small batches.The egg yolks
ride up the sides of the processor bowl, which makes any
attempt to form an emulsion with them an exercise in
futility. But is there a foolproof way, one that ensures that
theoilandtheeggyolksallmixupnicely?
As I was scraping down egg yolks from the sides of my