How do I make mayonnaise by hand?

Mayonnaise is the cheapest possible lesson in emulsions and it takes about eight minutes by hand. The recipe is trivial; the technique is entirely about the rate at which the oil goes in, and about not exceeding what one yolk can hold.

Safety

What you'll need

• Egg yolk
• Oil — a neutral one such as rapeseed or sunflower
• Dijon mustard (optional)
• White wine vinegar or lemon juice
• Balloon whisk and a bowl
• Damp cloth and a tea towel (optional)

Step by step

1. Bring the egg and the oil to room temperature.A fridge-cold yolk and room-temperature oil is the single most common reason a mayonnaise refuses to start. Half an hour on the worktop is enough.
2. Steady the bowl on a damp cloth in a coiled tea towel.You need one hand whisking and one hand pouring. A bowl that skids across the worktop forces you to stop whisking, which is exactly when it splits.
3. Whisk the yolk, mustard, a pinch of salt and the acid together first.One yolk, a teaspoon of Dijon, a teaspoon of white wine vinegar or lemon juice. The mustard is a second emulsifier and makes the whole thing more forgiving. Whisk for twenty seconds until it looks slightly paler.
4. Add the first tablespoon of oil literally drop by drop, whisking continuously.This is the entire technique. Each drop has to be fully incorporated before the next arrives. It feels absurdly slow and it takes about two minutes. If you rush any part of the process, rush a later part.
5. Once it has visibly thickened and holds the mark of the whisk, add the oil in a thin steady thread.The emulsion now exists and there is enough structure to break up incoming oil. Keep whisking; keep the thread thin enough that it disappears as it lands.
6. When it is thick and glossy, add the remaining oil a spoonful at a time.At this stage the sauce will accept oil easily. Stop when it is as thick as you want it or when you reach about 200ml per yolk, whichever comes first.
7. Loosen and season at the end.A teaspoon of warm water or a squeeze more lemon thins it to the consistency you want and makes it slightly more stable. Then salt to taste, and more acid if it tastes flat and fatty.

Tips

• Use a mild oil. Full extra virgin olive oil makes a bitter, aggressive mayonnaise, partly because whisking breaks its cells and releases bitter compounds. Use rapeseed or sunflower, or cut olive oil three to one with a neutral oil.
• The whole egg version works too and is more forgiving: put a whole egg, mustard and lemon in a narrow jug, pour in 250ml of oil, sink a stick blender to the bottom, run it, and lift slowly. It emulsifies in about fifteen seconds.
• Roughly 200ml of oil per yolk is a working ceiling. Two yolks will take 400ml.
• A mayonnaise that is too thick is corrected with water, not more acid — otherwise you end up with something sharp.
• Save the white for meringue, or freeze it. Whites freeze well and thaw usable.

Common mistakes

• Pouring the oil from the bottle at the start — It arrives as a pool rather than as droplets and there is nothing to break it up. This is the failure in the overwhelming majority of cases.
• Stopping whisking to top up the oil — Oil sitting still on the surface of an unfinished emulsion is the beginning of a split. Pour and whisk at the same time, or add oil in pauses with the whisk still moving.
• Salting heavily at the start — Salt does not hurt the emulsion but you cannot judge the seasoning until the fat is all in. It will taste far saltier as a thin yolk mixture than it will as a finished sauce.

Questions people ask