Homemade Mayonnaise: Science, Techniques, Troubleshooting, Storage

[kurl]

I definitely do the weekly batches thing, though we store it in a saran-wrap-covered glass bowl, which is probably not as good for preservation as a jar with a lid.

[bleachboy]

Of course, modern "factory farming" have made eggs much safer, and pork so safe you could practically eat it raw.

If you're like me, though, you've tried to escape agribusiness and source things like eggs and meat from local producers. I have to wonder what the salmonella risk is from non-graded eggs?

[Katherine]

The acid you add to homemade mayonnaise does not kill pathogenic bacteria, though it will retard their growth somewhat. Don't count on it to save you from contaminated eggs.

I keep homemade mayonnaise in the refrigerator until it spoils, then I chuck it. In the winter it lasts two weeks, and in the summer for one. Then it gets moldy, on the surface and throughout. Ick. Eat it fresh.

[Pickles]

I currently haven't heard that most of our population has been recently wiped out by this "widespread" problem of salmonella contamination. Although one (I repeat..ONE) case of salmonella is considered an "outbreak" you don't hear much about it on the news, do you? I wonder why that is....seeing there are so many people allegedly dying of it? Alton is right about leaving the homemade mayo to "rest" at room temp to allow the acid to work on any critters that may be there ready to gitcha. Making the mayo with pasteurized eggs is a good way to go. I am not sure I would keep it for a week, but he's probably not assuming most people blow through a quart of mayo every couple days. I dunno.

Mayo Haters Club

Food Safety Articles

And Mayo Based Sauce Safety

The microbiological hazard can be eliminated if certain precautions are taken, such as those used in the commercial preparation of mayonnaise. Acid ingredients in mayonnaise, if in sufficient concentration or amount, can eliminate salmonellae from raw egg yolks if given an adequate amount of holding time at room temperature after manufacture

Edited May 29, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[snowangel]

There are a million things I can worry about. The joy from homemade mayo is so great I decided years ago that it was one thing I wasn't going to worry about.

[bleachboy]

There are a million things I can worry about. The joy from homemade mayo is so great I decided years ago that it was one thing I wasn't going to worry about.

Amen, sister.

[marie-louise]

I would think how long it keeps would depend partly on how fresh the eggs are. I make mine in small batches, and keep it for a few weeks. I don't recall it ever getting moldly. I tend to put a fair amount of lemon juice in mine, plus a little Dijon.

[andiesenji]

I currently haven't heard that most of our population has been recently wiped out by this "widespread" problem of salmonella contamination. Although one (I repeat..ONE) case of salmonella is considered an "outbreak" you don't hear much about it on the news, do you? I wonder why that is....seeing there are so many people allegedly dying of it?

I personally had one "outbreak" of salmonella three years ago and obviously I didn't die but I certainly wanted to at one point. My case and that of six other affected people was following a wedding reception and the culprit was not eggs but salad, apparently contaminated by proximity to raw poultry in the prep stage.

Going to the ER in the middle of the night is no fun and the sadistic ER doc got a lot of fun out of giving me an injection to stop the most violent effects of the infection by saying "this may sting a bit". (I was severely dehydrated by this time and they also had started an IV in my other arm.)

I felt like I had been shot in the arm by a 30.30 slug. It did make me forget about my other complaints, all I could think of was whether or not my arm was going to fall off. While there, two other people who had attended the reception came in and later we learned that four others had also been ill enough to go to an ER.

I have to admit that the injection worked immediately but it was one I will never have again.

I prefer to be cautious and prudently avoid any raw greens at such functions. It is also why I use the pasturized eggs.

I would use irradiated eggs if they were available.

[chromedome]

Salmonella is carried on the outside of the eggshells, having been acquired from the hen's innards. If I am going to prepare a mayonnaise (or anything else using raw eggs) I give them a good scrubbing with a green 3M scrub pad, some hot water, and the antibacterial dish soap I use. Any sanitizer would do the job, for that matter.

And of course, once the eggs are in the water, wash your hands, too...

My sister is so paranoid about mayonnaise that she won't even use it in her son's school lunches. I should e-mail her some links to recent studies showing that commercial mayonnaise is so acidic that it *kills* salmonella bacteria injected directly by the researchers!

[bloviatrix]

There are a million things I can worry about.  The joy from homemade mayo is so great I decided years ago that it was one thing I wasn't going to worry about.

Amen, sister.

You're preaching to the converted.

Believe me, once you start making homemade mayo, you'll find it's so good, it dispears in less than a week.

[Pickles]

Salmonella is carried on the outside of the eggshells, having been acquired from the hen's innards.

Namely the hen's oviduct. But the eggshell is a porous substance; air must pass through it in order to get to the developing embryo. There is one type of salmonella that enjoys getting inside the eggshell. Salmonella enteritidis.

In the Northeast, approximately one in 10,000 eggs may be internally contaminated. In other parts of the United States, contaminated eggs appear less common. Only a small number of hens seem to be infected at any given time, and an infected hen can lay many normal eggs while only occasionally laying an egg contaminated with the Salmonella bacterium.

More Eggciting Information Here

[budrichard]

I boil the eggs for 4-5 minutes, scrape out the contents into the Kitchenaid food processor, that contains a little lemon juice and white vinegar and hit the Start button.

I believe that's false mayo, almost like using hard boiled yolks for a fool proof concoction. Not the same flavour as raw yolks.

"I believe" is the incorrect method of determining if something is correct or wrong. Do a blind test and make Mayo with raw eggs and the method I out lined. You will not be able to tell the difference in a blind tasting. That is what I did to determine if the 4 minute boil which results in a runny yoke and partially solid white makes a Mayo that tastes the same as one made with raw eggs. -Dick

[jayt90]

Your method is worth trying, and I'll certainly do it next time. My reference to false mayo was from a faint memory of my mom's mayo recipes, probably from Joy of Cooking or Adele Davis, showing us how to make a fast 'false mayo' from hard boiled eggs in a blender.

[bleudauvergne]

Bux is right, they don't refrigerate eggs here, although suddenly once they get home there's a panic (by my French husband) if they don't go directly in the fridge - go figure...

[rascal]

Greetings y'all..

I made my own mayo for the first time tonight according to the eGCI lesson from Non-Stock Based Sauces. 1/2 lemon, 1 c organic EVOO, 2 cloves garlic, salt, 1 egg yolk. The texture was out of this world! The taste, for the most part, was good. However the lemon acididty cuts through the rest of the flavors like a knife! It's not too bad on other dishes (served with mussels and frites tonight). I was just wondering if anyone else had come across this same problem and found a solution. More oil? Less lemon? Sub some lemon juice for water? I'm thinking trying to source a somewhat less acidic lemon type might be worthwhile.

One other possibility that I've considered is that I don't really know what real mayo tastes like... but this was almost like a super-thick Caesar dressing.

I might also swap half the olive oil for some canola or such next time.

Thanks in advance for your help...

[Dave the Cook]

Welcome, Rascal! Congratulations on your first mayonnaise.*

You can vary the amount of lemon juice to suit your taste. I've seen recipes with no lemon juice at all, and some with as much as 2-1/2 tablespoons. The only requirement is that you have about one ounce (2T) total of water-based liquid for each cup of finished mayo. (No water = no emulsion; no emulsion = no mayonnaise.) So, as you suspected, substitute water for the missing juice, or maybe try a Meyer lemon. You can even try other acids, especially vinegars, which vary in their ability to both reveal themselves in the finished sauce, and in the ways they make that revealation.

Your impulse to substitute some of the EVOO is a good one. Mayonnaise made entirely with unrefined oil will break in short order. If you had any left over and put it in the refrigerator, you probably found that out already. That aside, you can vary the flavor by changing the proportion of EVOO to neutral oil. Keep the unrefined oil to less than 30% of the total, and the sauce will be stable.

* You didn't just make mayo -- by adding the garlic, you made aioli. Maybe that's why you got the Caesar reminiscence?

[bloviatrix]

You also might want to try substituting white wine vinegar for the lemon juice.

[rascal]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to try swapping out some lemon juice for water, and probably half the EVOO for canola.

bloviatrix (great handle btw), wouldn't white vinegar still have that acidic kick? The lemon flavor was part of the excessive taste but the acidity was just as much. A little too much "pucker" if you know what I mean.

It's been sitting out now for 16 hours or so and hasn't broken yet. I'm going to reuse it on another round of mussels tonight.

[M. Lucia]

I actually can't stand mayo, but I am from the south and it is requisite at all family gatherings (to accompany tomato aspic), so here is my grandmother's recipe:

1 egg, dashes salt, red pepper, dry mustard, paprika

Put in a small bowl

Slowly add 1/2 cup vegetable oil while whisking/beating

Add 1 tbl cider vinegar

Now add 1 cup vegetable oil while beating

Add 1 tbls fresh lemon juice

Taste add mustard, paprika, lemon juice, or vingar if needed

Put in container, sprinkle top with paprika

My grandmother actually specified Wesson brand oil

I don't know much about mayo but I know this has worked for ~100 years so...

[Dani Mc]

if you still need to rescue your current batch, a bit of salt will take out some of the lemon acid bitterness.

[jackal10]

Hmm...I wrote the original unit, and I like my mayo fairly sharp.

Especially for Aioli.

It also depends how acid is your lemon.

Yes, you can swap some of the lemon for water, but as Dave says, keep the proportion of water based liquid the same

It also depends on the taste of the EVOO. Full EVOO is often too flavoursome, so halving it with a mild salad oil works for me. Any oil that thickens as it gets cold will break mayo, which is why most mayo without additional stabilisers breaks when refrigerated. An acid mayo is stable at room temperature and should not be refrigerated.

Edited December 12, 2004 by jackal10 (log)

[bloviatrix]

The reason I suggested trying the vinegar is because it tends to have a different pH level of acidity from lemon juice (I believe lemon juice has a pH level of 2 and vinegar a level of 3, but vinegar woud vary by type). In otherwords, lemon juice is more acidic than vinegar.

Edit: added last sentence to clarify.

Edited December 13, 2004 by bloviatrix (log)

[culinary bear]

The reason I suggested trying the vinegar is because it tends to have a lower pH level of acidity than lemon juice (I believe lemon juice has a pH level of 2 and vinegar a level of 3, but vinegar woud vary by type).

←

*removes chef's toque*

*puts on safety goggles*

The pH of lemon juice is obviously variable, but tends to be around 2.3; the pH of white wine vinegar depends entirely on the brand, but would be around 2.7-3.0.

Since pH is a logarithmic scale, one whole pH 'point' represents a tenfold change in acidity, so you could (tenously!) assert that lemon juice, for the same volume, is 3-4 times more acidic than white wine vinegar.

That's actual acidity... Perceived acidity, to the individual's palate, is a very complex matter and would vary widely.

*injures self while removing goggles*

[RETREVR]

All science aside....Cider vinegar might be a better choice than white wine vinagar. Hell, white wine might be a better choice than vinegar at all.

You are lucky (or have a good olive oil) if you can make your aioli without getting a funky bitterness....(which is part of the reason to use lemon in the first place).

[Lexica]

Rice vinegar tastes a bit more delicate than white or white wine vinegar - the bottle says 4.1% acidity. I was a fluffy liberal arts major, tho', so I don't know what the actual pH is.