Homemade mayonnaise step by step

Mayonnaise is an essential addition to an almost endless array of salads, egg stuffings, and cold buffet dishes. How to make it in your own kitchen?

During the Easter season, we can say with a clear conscience that what we eat most often is… just mayonnaise. Wars between lovers of various brands are waged on the Internet half-jokingly, half-seriously, but we would like to offer you an alternative. How about homemade mayonnaise?

Its making is not complicated, and in return for a little effort we get a whole package of benefits. First, we know the exact composition of the mayonnaise, from the type of eggs used to the amount and species of salt. Second, we can control its taste and consistency – too salty? A dash of sugar. Too thick? A few drops of oil. Everything is in our hands. We can even choose how to prepare it!

First – the ingredients

We assume that we want to get about 400 ml of mayonnaise at a time. For this we will need:

• 1 egg,
• 350 ml of vegetable oil – sunflower, rapeseed..
• a tablespoon of lemon juice or wine vinegar,
• salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

It is important that the egg and lemon juice are fresh and the oil as high quality as possible. Then, depending on what equipment we have available, we can get down to preparing mayonnaise in two ways.

Secondly, the method

Depending on our kitchen equipment, we can opt for two, almost equally fast methods.

With a hand mixer

1. Scald the egg shell with boiling water, then break it into a tall container. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and a dash of sugar, and the lemon juice/vinegar
2. Whisk on low-medium speed. (Low-powered mixers can be set to medium and then raised to higher.)
3. When the mixture becomes frothy, begin adding the oil, a tablespoon at a time or in a thin, steady stream, still whisking (already on as high a speed as possible) until the mixture lightens and inflates to the consistency we expect from our mayonnaise

Depending on your mixer and the amount of oil you use, mayonnaise can take anywhere from five even to ten minutes or more to prepare. The plus side is that we can adjust the amount of oil we use during preparation and avoid the end product being too runny.

With a “giraffe” blender

1. As with the first method, we scald the egg and beat it into a tall container.
2. Add salt, pepper, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, and oil.
3. Place the blender to the very bottom container without starting the blades.
4. Start the blender while still holding it against the bottom. The properties of the oil will keep most of it out of the blades’ work zone, but that’s about it.
5. After thirty seconds or so, start slowly lifting the blender, allowing the oil to gradually penetrate the egg and spice mixture.

This method is good, especially if you want a thick mayonnaise. However, we need to be sure that the amount of oil is right from the start – unlike the method with a hand blender, we are not able to reduce the amount of oil during preparation, or we risk too much oil mixing into the egg mixture too quickly.

In both methods, we are able to control the flavor of the mayonnaise. If, after whisking is complete, you find the mayonnaise too mild or salty, or in some other way deviates from your taste preferences, simply add the desired seasoning and briefly (10 seconds max) blend or blitz the wholething again.

Vegan variant

For those on a vegan diet, we suggest a variant that replaces the egg with about 100 ml of aquafaba – that is, water from cans of canned chickpeas, or left over from cooking them. It is a great substitute for egg whites in desserts, but you can also prepare a tasty mayonnaise based on it. Just reduce the amount of oil, and add a little black salt to the regular salt (it will add an egg flavor). Then, following the recipe as above, you can prepare a 100 percent vegetarian mayonnaise.