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Chapter 19 Bonus Video Clip: Preparing Mayonnaise

Chef Koetke: Mayonnaise is an essential product in professional kitchens because it is an ingredient in many items including salad dressings, dips, sauces, spreads, appetizers, and mousses. Though many operations buy prepared mayonnaise, the technique for making mayonnaise remains a basic culinary skill. The principles for making mayonnaise you are about to learn also apply to emulsified dressings.
When simple vinaigrette is shaken or whipped, the oil and vinegar mix together in microscopic droplets creating an emulsion. This emulsion soon separates back to oil and vinegar because it is a temporary emulsion.
 
One of the most common culinary solutions to prevent the oil and vinegar from separating is to stabilize the emulsion with egg or egg yolks. Mayonnaise is a cold sauce that is an emulsion of oil and vinegar stabilized with egg yolk and mustard. The technique of preparing mayonnaise and emulsified dressings can be done by hand, with an electric mixer, or in a food processor. However it is done, the same basic procedure is followed. We'll demonstrate how to make mayonnaise by hand following the recipe found in The Culinary Professional and its companion materials. Here's our mise en place for basic mayonnaise:

2 fluid ounces or 60 milliliters pasteurized egg yolks

2 tablespoons or 30 milliliters vinegar

1 teaspoons or 5 milliliters dry mustard

1 pint or 480 milliliters salad oil

Salt, white pepper and lemon juice to taste, and a small amount of water if necessary.

Begin with a mixing bowl and whip. Anchor the bowl to keep it from sliding by placing it on a damp towel coiled in a circle. Put the egg yolks, mustard, and vinegar in a bowl and whip to combine them well. While constantly whipping the egg yolk mixture, add the oil in a thin stream. Continue to whip and add oil simultaneously until the oil is incorporated. You can adjust the consistency by thinning with a small amount of water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper and adjust acidity with additional vinegar or lemon juice if needed. Because it contains egg yolks, mayonnaise is a potentially hazardous food. Mayonnaise should be refrigerated until needed.

The consistency of other emulsified dressings may be thinner than mayonnaise because of additional liquid or using whole eggs rather than just yolks. Regardless of the ingredients, once you have mastered the technique for making mayonnaise, you'll be able to create any emulsified dressing.

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