Homemade Japansese Mayonnaise

[Patrick MacBrehan]

Hello! I've been reading this forum off and on for a while, but this is the first time that I've posted anything.

My question is about mayonnaise! And obviously Japanese style mayonnaise at that. I've just returned from a summer spent in Osaka and I bought a number of cooking books while I was out there. A couple of these deal with dressings and sauces and there is a mayonnaise recipe I've been working on from the two examples I've got. So, it's more or less (ratios and such I haven't quite fixed):

Two egg yolks

50ml vinegar

160-180ml salad oil

And also salt, pepper, sugar, mustard (to taste, the seasoning is proving the challenge!).

Has anyone ever tried making their own Japanese mayonnaise? My results so far are okay, but I was wondering whether anyone had any tips. I presume that Kewpie and similar are made with pasteurised eggs for shelf life. Obviously, reaching for the squeezy bottle does save rather a lot of time.

My favourite brand in Japan was one that used kurozu in place of normal rice vinegar.

Suggestions welcomed!

[bruce]

Has anyone ever tried making their own Japanese mayonnaise? My results so far are okay, but I was wondering whether anyone had any tips. I presume that Kewpie and similar are made with pasteurised eggs for shelf life. Obviously, reaching for the squeezy bottle does save rather a lot of time.

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If I recall correctly, one critical ingredient for making a kewpie-like mayonnaise is ajinomoto (msg).

Other than that, I play with things like adding shiso or wasabi or (sweeter flavoured) miso.

My own basic recipe includes lemon; you could substitute with or add yudzu to add another Japan specific flavour into your mayonnaise.

[Kuma]

Bruce is right, you won't get the Kewpie seasoning right without MSG (sadly)

[Hiroyuki]

I previously posted a recipe here.

You can also see a photo of the mayo I made upthread (post #51), together with the blender (Milser) that I used.

The manufacturer of Kewpie mayonnaise says that they use a special vinegar brewed from apple juice and malt, suggesting that this is the secret of the flavor of their mayo, but I know, like anyone else, that the secret of the flavor lies in "seasonings (amino acids)", in other words, MSG.

[Patrick MacBrehan]

I think you're right that MSG will probably do the trick! Adding shiso, miso, mentaiko or whatever should make that lack less prominent. I'm hoping! In Japan, I'd just buy mentaiko mayonnaise, but that doesn't seem to be available in the UK. It seems a shame to add fresh mentaiko, which I can buy, to not-exactly-fresh mayonnaise.

Thanks for the recipe, Hiroyuki, I'll try adding some cider vinegar next time. Who knows what will happen!

[infernooo]

I believe kewpie uses soybean oil - considering that the mayonnaise consists mainly of oil, I think this would also be a major contributor to flavour (the oil type and vinegar type).

[Hiroyuki]

I believe kewpie uses soybean oil - considering that the mayonnaise consists mainly of oil, I think this would also be a major contributor to flavour (the oil type and vinegar type).

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I checked the ingredient list of Kewpie mayo. It includes:

Vegetable fat and oil (including soy beans)

[helenjp]

The Japanese mayonnaise recipe is not so much "home-made Kewpie", as "mayonnaise for people who also like Kewpie". I was given that recipe over 30 years ago, and it wasn't touted as a version of Kewpie...it's tasty in its own right, but if you want the Kewpie texture, try using different types of oil ("salad oil" in Japan would be a mixture of soy and rapeseed oils). Most Japanese people would just use a straight rice vinegar, but you could try cider vinegar. White vinegar would be too strong.