Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Whisk Wednesdays—Sauce Mayonnaise (Basic emulsified sauce) and Salade Messidor (Summer Harvest Salad)

::Whisk Wednesdays::
Welcome to Whisk Wednesdays!
I now have a some buddies who will join me as I cook my way through a cooking school curriculum. Find out more HERE. You should join us!
MayonnaiseMayonnaise is another emulsification sauce made with egg yolks, a bit of water, oil, and some flavorings. The egg yolks are the liaison (or emulsifier) that gets the oil and water to combine in mayonnaise. The mustard you use becomes the dominant flavor, so pick one you like.

2 rules
There are 2 main rules you need to know to make mayonnaise (or hollandaise or Béarnaise, for that matter):
• Have all ingredients at room temperature so that the emulsification can happen.
• Add the oil SLOWLY.

Fixing a Broken Mayonnaise
If the sauce breaks, try adding a bit of cold water. If that doesn’t work, try a new bowl with a bit of mustard or a fresh egg yolk in it. Then slowly add a bit of broken mayo into it and whisk. Continue adding the broken mayo slowly.

Watch a Pro
Alton Brown has a detailed show about mayonnaise. Here is part 1.

Links
Here is a great link to some history about mayonnaise, and here’s another one with more background about this sauce.

Recipe
Mayonnaise ingredientsHarvest Summer Salad ingredientsYou can find the recipe for Mayonnaise and Salade Messidor (Summer Harvest Salad)
in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesday group fared with this week's recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Mayonnaise keeps for about 3 days in the refrigerator.

Tasting Notes
We usually have Hellmann's® Mayo in the fridge and only use it on burgers and sandwiches, but now I know how to make homemade mayonnaise. It wasn't that hard; it just required a ton of whisking. As far as mayonnaise goes, I was happy with the taste. I'm not sure I'll make it again, however, but now I can check off that I've made it and can make it in the future, if need be.

Next Week (July 9)
• Billy Bi (Mussel Soup) page 311

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Running total: $455.89 + $1.20 (Mayonnaise) + $8.49 (Salad) = $465.58

Butter used so far: 6 pounds, 5 tablespoons

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::Whisk Wednesdays::
If you would like to check out the other Whisk Wednesdays bloggers to see their take on Mayonnaise, click Kayte, Shelley, Sara, and Becke. We are up to 5 of us now...why don't you join us? We'd love to have you.





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shari, you must have a background in photogrpahy, your photos are always stunning. I used to have a teacher , back when I was in art school, who was a food phootographer. I learned a ton from him. Anyway, your post showed me that I used the wrong endive! Whoops! Now I know!

Anonymous said...

Really...you would not make this again? I would make the mayo again, but I would reduce the amount by at least a fourth and just whip it up fresh as we needed it. With the lesser amount, the whisking should be much less consuming also...like salad dressing really.

Your photos and post are great, as always...how do you do this all?

Thanks for encouraging us along the way.

Anonymous said...

I'm jazzed that this was actually easy to do. I'm going to give it another go, but use my Kitchen Aid to do the whisking. I'll post how the machine-assisted sauce comes out. Hubby enjoyed the salad...and suggested we add shrimp. What a guy! Here's my post for Class 13.

vibi said...

Mmmm... Shari, this looks absolutely delicious.
The creamy, soft texture in your pictures is to die for... and so summery!
When did you say you were inviting me over? LOL

Jacque said...

Looks like it would be fun and so informative to be cooking through the book. I've always wondered how homemade mayonnaise would taste. I do love mayo, espeically on fresh garden tomatoes, with some salt.... craving some now...

Great job and my hats off to you for undertaking this challenge. Love the "green" picture.

Kana said...

I wonder if I could use a food processor to make the mayo.

Anonymous said...

YOur cooking school project sounds like a great idea. Good luck with it!

Shari said...

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

sara - I have always had a love for photography, but no formal training. Thanks for the support!

kayte - I guess we're not big mayo eaters. Maybe when we run out of Hellman's, I'll make some as we need it, now that I know how to do it!

cantbelieveweate - I'd love to know how it turns out with a mixer. Shrimp sounds like a great addition to this salad to make it more of a main dish!

vibi - You're welcome any time!!

jacque - You should join us!

maya - I'm sure you can use a food processor to make this. I'm trying to follow what students would actually do in class, and I'm sure they don't get use the gadgets most of us have at home. Next time I make it, though, I'm going to try the food processor.

dana - Thanks for your encouragement! I'm a fan of your columns and would often clip out your food ideas from Style at Home rather than the interior decorating ideas!

maybelles mom said...

first, great pictures. I am not a fan of mayo, but your pictures seemed very appealing. I have made mayo once, and basically just to cross it off the list. it is magical to see it come together, but for me as we NEVER us it, so it doesn't make sense.

Anne said...

Very impressive Shari! I love the photos and can't wait to see what else you guys make (I'd love to join you but my husband would flip if I joined another group! :)