Can I save my mayo? Help please!

[artemis33]

I tried to make mayo for the first time today but it is quite thin and a little bland. It isn't fluffy enough and doesn't really look fully emulsified. I did it in the food processor but I'm thinking maybe my hand held mixer would do better. Right now it is resting in the refrigerator while I decide what to do with it.

If it is too thin does that mean not enough egg or oil? It seemed like plenty of oil, but I've never done this! Or maybe I just neat to beat it more?

Here's what I did:
I mixed 1 egg yolk with about 1 tsp dijon type mustard and about 1-2 tsp acv. Turned on food processor and added oil (sunflower) in a thin stream, expecting it to start getting thick. After about 1.5-2c of oil it still wasn't thick so I stopped. I read the NT recipe and thought maybe that wasn't enough egg for so much oil, so I dumped this mixture out into a bowl, beat up a whole egg with a little more mustard and acv and put that in the food processor, then put the other mixture back through the tube in a stream. It did thicken more, but it still isn't thick and fluffy and still tastes bland. A little salt helped and I realized I was out of lemon so I put it all in the fridge while DD and I went to the store.

I have lemon now and more of everything - can I salvage this? Should I start over? What did I do wrong?

I really want this to work!!!

thanks for any help

[Attached Mama]

that sounds like *way* too much oil!! I think we only added a few tbsp of it per egg

[Equuskia]

I think part of your problem may be that you used egg white. Here is the recipe I use:

Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe
INGREDIENTS:

* 2 egg yolks
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard (I use a tiny amount of mustard instead)
* 1/8 teaspoon sugar
* Pinch cayenne pepper (I don't use this, I do use a little black pepper though)
* 4 to 5 teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar (I use lemon juice)
* 5/6 cups olive or other salad oil
* 4 teaspoons hot water

PREPARATION:
Beat yolks, salt, mustard, sugar, pepper, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a small bowl until very thick and pale yellow. (Note: If using electric mixer, beat at medium speed.) Add about 1/4 cup oil, drop by drop, beating vigorously all the while. Beat in 1 teaspoon each lemon juice and hot water. Add another 1/4 cup oil, a few drops at a time, beating vigorously all the while. Beat in another teaspoon each lemon juice and water. Add 1/2 cup oil in a very fine steady stream, beating constantly, then mix in remaining lemon juice and water; slowly beat in remaining oil. If you like, thin mayonnaise with a little additional hot water. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Do not keep longer than 1 week.

It comes out thick (I don't thin it out at the end) and yellowish. It's very .

What you can attempt to do is beat one more egg yolk, take your mixture, and run it through the processor again a tiny bit at a time. Or pour it into a bowl little by little and beat with a hand blender to see if it thickens up. It's really important to start very slow at the beginning, else the emulsifying won't work.

[Attached Mama]

1 whole egg


1 egg yolk at room temp (we didn't do the room temp part)

1 tsp dijon type mustard

1 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp whey (optional - with it mayo will last several months. w/o whey it lasts about 2 weeks) If using whey it says to let it sit out for 7 hrs b4 refridgerating. With whey it will get thicker with time.

3/4 to 1 cup olive oil or sunflower oil (expeller pressed)
generous pinch of sea salt

Process all but oil in blender or food processor, add oil til you like the consistency.

This is the recipe from NT and it says the mayo comes out rather runny. So I don't think we added even as much oil as the recipe called for. That's why 4-5 cups of oil sounded like a *lot* to me!

[Ruthla]

I'd probably start over- it sounds like you may end up using as many ingredients as a full recipe in an attempt to salvage what you've started (but maybe use this runny mayo mixture in place of plain oil in your new recipe, so it doesn't ALL go to waste.)

Then I'd try to see if you could use the runny mayo in baking or something. I know I've seen recipes for kugel (potato or vegetable pies) that call for store-bought mayo in place of oil, so your thinner homemade oil would probably work in a recipe like that. Mix with some chopped cooked veggies (such as broccoli or spinach) or shredded raw potato and some eggs and salt and pepper to taste, and bake until it's cooked through.

[artemis33]

Thanks everyone!

Attachedmama - it was only 2 cups of oil, not 5! lol But yeah, even that was too much Thanks for typing out the recipe. I did have it, I just didn't look at it I had been reading a thread here with 'tips' on mayo, and a poster made it sound so easy to just 'start adding oil slowly until it thickens as much as you like' so I thought it would be easy to tell when to stop

Last night I decided to check NT and another cookbook I have and read the recipes and realized about how off my proportions were. I beat up 2 more yolks with some more mustard and acv and then slowly added the other mixture (which was looking gross and separated by then - I guess it never emulsified properly) back in - all in the food processor. This time it worked! I added a little lemon juice and it turned out pretty good!

And yes, nice and yellow

That's what I get for trying to 'wing it' the first time I make something At least I was able to save it.

Oh and Ruthla - that potato dish sounds really yummy!!!! I might have to make that anyway! I do have a lot of mayo now after all

[Equuskia]

egg salad with homemade mayo....

[artemis33]

Originally Posted by Equuskia

egg salad with homemade mayo....

Oh yum - I just happen to have a bunch of eggs right now....guess what I'm making for lunch tomorrow!