Non-emulsified mayonnaise sits mocking me on the counter. What can I do with 3 egg yolks blended

M

marilynfl

Moderator
with 1 cup of vegetable oil?

I was wondering if a carrot cake might work? I'd thought "aha! zucchini bread" first, but had to garbage-disposal'd the two "no longer with us" zucchini found in the veggie bin.

I just hate wasting ingredients like this.

Here's the whole sordid story: I wanted to make cheezz's cucumber sandwiches AND make Dawn_MO "spicy chicken salad" to use up the last of the Christmas turkey breast.

Both use mayo, but I had no mayo. So I thought I'd whip up some. But I had no eggs because I'd just made 6 jars of Meyer's lemon curd 2 hours earlier and had used up every single egg.

So we ran down to the grocery store to pick up red onion, celery, mayo and eggs. When we got there, I went into sticker shock because the mayo was $5.99 a jar! So I mocked that and told Larry I would just whip up some mayo at home with the eggs we just bought. I only needed one or two eggs

Got home, got out the mini-food processor, looked online for a recipe and found one that used peanut oil and veggie oil. I whipped up a 2 egg batch and it emulsified perfectly. Tasted it and oh, yuk! the peanut oil had a stale taste to it. Dumped out that entire batch and started again. 2 egg yolks...200 ml straight veggie oil, 1/2 tsp dijon...and I ended with liquid! No an emulsified molecule in sight!!!

That's when I tried to add another yolk but it broke into the container of eggwhites, so I got out yet ANOTHER egg yolk and tried to thicken it, but no go. It still wouldn't thicken. (Are you doing the math with me so far? That 6 eggs and 400 ml of oil wasted so far).

So I dumped that into a container in the hopes of saving it for another recipe and tried for the THIRD time. Added the oil one mini drizzle at a time and it sort-of worked...it looked kindof broken, but tasted okay and by then Larry was getting a little scared at my ranting and I just wanted to eat, dang it!

Let's stop and do a little recalculation: 8 eggs at $2.40 a dozen...that's $1.60 for the eggs. 600 ml of oil (that's about 3 cups or 24 oz, give or take. $4.99 for 48 oz means $2.50 for the oil. Plus the .79 cent lemon...almost $5 on this mayo that I mocked...mocked, I tell you, for costing $5.99 at the store and that contained enough mayonnaise to make a vat of chicken salad.

So now I'm trying to cover my loses and do something with the 3 egg yolks and 1 cup of veggie oil mixture I got in the frig.

By the way, the cucumber sandwiches and chicken salad were delicious! We had them--open-faced, of course, on bread with the crusts cut off--with a pot of English tea while watching 84 Charing Cross Road, a lovely story about book lovers and letters sent between NYC and London's book district on Charing Cross.

 
Memories of a recent series of classes, where I thought it would be 'fun' to make mayo from scratch

Shan't be doing that again, I assure you!! I ended up having more luck using a hand whisk in a large bowl.

You can still use the mocking mixture - trust me, I have, & it has worked. Let it come to room temp again, then start with a couple more egg yolk, room temperature, & make sure they are fresh (I had one batch turn out really runny & I suspect those eggs were not as fresh). Drizzle in your mocking mixture (stir it up first), as if it were just the oil. It 'should' emulsify.

In my classes, I was so stressed out after the super thin batch that my heart was pounding during the remaining classes as I prayed 'please emulsify, please emusify' I ended up making the participants take turns whisking the yolks while someone else drizzled in the oil - that way I could at least blame them if it didn't turn out smileys/smile.gif

 
I love that movie too.

funny about the mayo, I wonder if it is the mini chop? sometimes that happens to me too. You could try adding a dab of mustard to help the emulsification, and I think Julia says to add droplets of ice water a little at a time, but I would move to a big blender and see if that helps any...

 
You made curd! did it work well for you? which method? I still envy your Meyers. I used lemons

some mandarins.

 
Would a stick blender help? I made whipped cream with it once

and it whipped in about 10 seconds, if that. I'm glad you like the chicken salad. Have you tried making tuna, shrimp, egg, etc. salad with the same basic recipe? They all turned out really good. It's hard to go wrong with those ingredients.

 
It may be too late, but I suspect your eggs were too cold. You can salvage it by hand...

Warm a bowl with hot water and dry well. Put a dab of mustard in the bowl. Stir the failed sauce together as best you can and dribble it slowly into the mustard, whisking by hand.

It always works, if you go slow, even if the machine failed.

the only exception would be if there is a lightening storm in progress--I know that one from experience.

The French also believe a failed mayonnaise is a sign you're pregnant. Leave it to the French to come up with a pregnancy test that is also a sauce.

 
Marilyn- for NEXT time here is my favorite mayo recipe

Was there a bit of soap left in the processor? Or if you just rinsed it after dumping the first batch something left in the bowl could have thrown off the next batch and stopped it from emulsifying.

Never mind. Try again another time because homemade mayo is so wonderful it is worth it.

Here is the recipe I use all the time- I make Aioli but if you want just straight mayo don't put all the garlic in. I have never had this recipe fail- ever. And I've made hundreds of batches of it. It is probably a Julia recipe- don't even know for certain. Might have been out of the very old Robot Coupe recipe book that came with my ancient RC machine. Wherever it came from, it is a good one.

GARLIC MAYONNAISE (makes 1 cup)

4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large egg
1 T raspberry or champagne vinegar
2 tsp dry hot mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 C vegetable oil

Put all except oil in a blender or food processor. Process for 30 seconds then add oil slowly with machine on until mix is thick. Keeps for about 3 days in the refrigerator.

 
Na, cold eggs can't be it because the first batch worked perfectly...and the eggs were from

the same cold batch I had just bought at the store. I think it was Cathy's remark about the processor bowl because I just dumped out the first oily-smelling batch, rinsed it and kept going with the second batch. So there was still residual oil, egg, and water in the bowl for the failed batch. Didn't realize that would affect it as I thought that only affected whipping eggwhites.

And as to the pregnant comment...I'd be damned impressed if the French have found a way to make babies with eggs, oil, and no Fallopian tubes.

 
Bingo...I think this is the answer. I was sloth-like in cleaning it out between batches.

Does the mayo have an agressive garlic flavor? Cause I'm pretty much a wuzz when it comes to garlic. I'm tilting to the Anti-Moyn side on the Garlic-Meter

 
Yes, I make it the first time with tuna, then with chicken, and now with turkey. Works perfectly.

And no...I didn't try the stick blender. I would think it's slower than a food processor.

 
I think it was Lisa's 5 egg version? Wiz with stick blender and cook for about 15 minutes to 170.

Perfect every time.

 
No...can't be the mini-chop because the first batch worked perfectly. If I had checked the

peanut oil FIRST instead of just adding it, none of this would have happened. That's what I get for trying to save money and buy the bigger container and then NOT Use IT except for stir-fry.

Peanut oil is great for the candied walnuts, but I didn't make any this time.

 
Yep, I think Cathy nailed it. Residual oil in the bowl may have been the culprit. The emulsion

is very fragile at first.

Also, all of Julia's recipes call for one whole egg with the yolks when using a machine. And whether using a machine or not, the egg yolks have to be beaten well before any oil is added, so that they thicken a bit on their own.

I hope that helps. Cathy's right--homemade mayo is worth the extra trouble.

Speaking of miracles, aren't cheezz' cucumber sandwiches amazing?

 
Yes, I think "aggressive" fits the Aioli but if you use only one clove of garlic you should be fine.

 
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