The wonderful world of sauces

Culinary artists across centuries and countries have given us some marvellous little treats that we have so loved to devour. For me personally nothing comes close to a perfect sauce. The way to my heart (if its got to be food) is through a bottle of sauce.  When I say sauce I'm not just talking about the sweet, tangy or spicy ones we like to dip our Chips in. Today on the top of the charts we have this curious little concoction they came up with around the early 18th century called the... *drumroll* Mayonnaise.

A jar of homemade Mayonnaise

Though its believed to be a product of kitchen experiments, the mayo makes the burger more palatable without messing much with the meat flavours, makes our salads more appetising by cutting through the bitterness of a few stray leaves and binds the healthy and guilty pleasures with so much ease and it tastes really good with chips - anything that gets along with chips is a champ!

Its incredible to see what the food corps have done with the mayo. So, as a child I believed that mayo was best made industrially, when one day my mother whipped up this great mayonnaise at home. I was stumped! I kept repeating with disbelief. "You can make mayonnaise at home", The homemade mayo had flavour and texture that out did the store bought bottled mayo.

The nutrition value of mayo may not be very impressive, however it can be had in small quantities. If we feel like dipping our faces in a bucket full of mayonnaise we have a problem and we must fight the urge to do so. We cannot do much about it other than pray to the tub of mayo to be kind on our wobbly pits, this simple recipe can bring you the joy of making a jar full of mayonnaise at home. I adapted the recipe from the book called Ratio by Michael Rhulman.  There is some smart science and good knowledge of emulsifiers involved in the making of the mayo that Rhulman explains about in the book

Blending yolk, water, lemon juice and salt

     

Mayo after 1/2 cup of oil

Creamy mayo clinging to the whisk 

Basic Mayonnaise

Time take : Whisk- 20 to 25 minutes
                   Immersion hand blender 1-2 minutes

Ingredients

Egg yolk 1
Salt 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice 1 1/2 tsp
Water 1 tsp
Sunflower Oil upto 1 cup ( 3/4th cup if using a immersion hand blender)

Method

In a large bowl add a yolk, salt, lemon juice and water.
Use a kitchen cloth to support the base of the bowl while whisking.
Using a whisk or immersion hand blender, beat/buzz the the mixture of yolk, water and lemon juice briefly to blend
Using a cup, pour the oil in a steady thin stream or few drops at a time and blend to form emulsion
The oil and yolk mixture begins to thickens after adding in 1/4th cup of oil 
Stop whisking once all the oil is incorporated and the mixture clings to the whisk/blade
Empty the Mayonnaise into a clean jar and store in the refrigerator

Notes- If there is not enough liquid for the oil to emulsify, the mayo will turn into a soup. To fix broken mayo you will need to start with a fresh bowl. Add a tsp of water into the mixing bowl and pour the broken mayo in a thin stream whisking continuously till the oil reemulsifies into creamy mayo. 

Trivia: Originating from the west a European concept, French precisely. The east couldn't escape the love of mayo. The Japanese loved the mayo so much they used it as a pizza topping with squid!

If you have gone mental with the joy of making mayo at home and happy to have pushed aside days of depending on a food corp to provide you with a mayo fix, try using your mayo as a base to make the following variations

Thousand island = basic mayo + tomato ketchup + tobasco sauce

Garlic Aioli= basic mayo + finely chopped garlic + Parsley chopped + pepper

Lime and Chili Mayo = basic mayo + Lime Zest + Lemon Juice + Paprika powder or Red Chilli Chopped

Mustard Mayo= basic mayo + grainy mustard + a tsp of honey

Herby Mayo= basic mayo + parsley + chives + small onion chopped+ taragon

Sandwich Spread= basic mayo + coriander pesto + pickled jalapeno chopped + grated green apple +  Pepper