I made homemade coleslaw yesterday and didn’t have enough mayonnaise to make the sauce. “No problem”, I thought to myself. I will just whip up some homemade mayo. I’m a pretty good cook and like to make things myself. I can control the ingredients that go into it and do away with some of the sodium, preservatives, hormones, etc.
I jumped on the internet and did a search for mayonnaise recipes. The first one I came up with had tons of ingredients and promised a “bright tasting” version. Bright tasting sounded about right for my slaw so I got out my trusty blender and the other ingredients and went to town. Now it already was not the most inexpensive undertaking because I was using olive oil instead of regular vegetable oil. I’m pretty sure you can buy a quart of mayo for less than a cup and a half of olive oil.
The resulting glop was a serious taste disaster. It didn’t emulsify. It was oily and olive tasting with a tang that just didn’t sit well with me. I poured it out in the weeds. I was two eggs, a cup and a half of olive oil and the other ingredients into this experiment and I will freely admit that it wasn’t the recipe’s fault, it was mine.
I gave up for about 5 minutes and then decided to give it another try. I did my research and read a few more recipes. I figured out why my recipe didn’t work. I stumbled upon another recipe that promised to work AND taste great. Well, what did I have to lose but another few eggs and some more olive oil.
I have to tell you that making homemade mayo is not for the faint at heart. It is not the most frugal recipe in the world but the mayo I ended up with is much healthier than the store bought stuff. If you decide to undertake this endeavor, I will also include these few tips.
Homemade Mayonnaise Tips
- Start with all your ingredients at room temperature.
- Add oil one drop at a time and mix until emulsified
- Do not rush the process – it is better to add oil one drop at a time than to put too much too fast
- Use a lightly flavored oil or a mix of oils – my olive oil decidedly flavored the mayo.
The real trick to this whether you use a whisk or a blender is to add the oil slowly at first. The egg yolks act as an emulsifier but the yolk and the oil have to be totally mixed before adding another drop. Add another drop and mix again. Once you have a tablespoon or two mixed in then you can start drizzling it in but if you go to fast, it will separate and you will have glop.
My first and second tries at making mayonnaise took 5 eggs, 2 1/2 cups of olive oil plus all the other ingredients to yield a single cup of mayo. It ended up tasting ok but was definitely not cheap.
Related posts:
- Fun and Frugal Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale by Gone-Walkabout This is a favorite with my kids. The...
- Anyone Have Frugal Lo Cal Recipes? It’s the new year and while it is not one...
- Frugal Recipes: Jambalaya Photo Courtesy of scorps1027 When I was in New Orleans...
- Frugal Recipes: Hamburger Stroganoff by Shasta MacNasty This is another one of the family...
- Have a Frugal Holiday Season Round Up by Mrs. Gemstone Tis the season when people are spending...
How on earth did you fit 2.5 cups of oil and around 1.25 cups of egg into one cup of mayo? Also, the recipe link promised to taste great points to a page calling for 3 eggs, whey, palm sugar, and sesame oil. It sounds nonstandard to say the least… is this the page to which you meant to link?
kpl, It was tricky. Actually I threw the first batch away which was the larger part and used the basic recipe for the second one with olive oil instead of sesame oil. I always use recipes as a guide and usually substitute or eliminate some ingredients. It gets me into trouble sometimes and sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise. In this case, I mostly needed something that was acceptable enough to finish the cole slaw so I could take some liberties.