Second, I'm wondering if that batch of olive oil was spoiled. The chemist in me understands how vegetable oils degrade over time. I consulted Hazan, and she specifically says to avoid dark green oils from southern Italy because they are naturally bitter. What are people's thoughts on cooking with and using different grades of olive oils?
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Pass The Mayo, Please. And About That Extra Virgin?
My wife tasked me with finding a recipe for homemade mayonnaise. Something for the upcoming holidays. My first attempt tonight failed on account of the type of oil. I used Trader Joe's Extra Virgin Olive Oil. To me, it tasted very bitter, just like the oil. What is the best type of oil to use for fresh mayo?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I read where olive oil is not that great for mayonnaise because it becomes bitter.
Whipping it does that.
But I used it anyway and it turned out fine.
I add sugar. Because I like Miracle Whip anyway.
Pasterfarian said to use room temperature eggs, and I must say, that's great advice. Now when I use them chilled then I put them in hot water first to bring the temperature up quickly.
Consider your mayonnaise to an oil and vinegar dressing and use the oil you'd use for that.
That is thickened with egg.
If it fails to thicken, say, if your eggs were cold, then you can gently cook it slowly as the mass producers do.
If you f that up and it separates, you can start over without wasting by drizzling the broken mixture into a new egg as it whips.
That's the thing about oil/vinegar dressing in restaurants; it's like the ugly step sister of dressings, they always get the cheapest oil and the cheapest red vinegar, and not the best of both possible that you'd put on your own homemade spectacular salad. I don't understand that. I don't understand people's attitude toward dressing. And I flat do not comprehend bottled dressing. I grew up on 5 or 6 bottles of dressing dragged out to the table each night. None of us knew how to make dressing. We ceded responsibility for the crucial element to mass producers of the mysterious chemical creation beyond our ken, an area best left to scientists and to chefs.
Then, this one Japanese restaurant used straight grapefruit juice for their dressing. No oil, no salt, no nuth'n. And that made me go, "Bloody wow. Dressing can be anything. You don't even need oil." You had to eat your salad really fast because the grapefruit juice wilted the lettuce in 2 minutes.
[A guest on Tuesday assumed I made my own mayonnaise in the blue cheese dressing because everything else is homemade. Pickles, bread, jam, dressing. "No. I bought it." "W-h-a-a-a-a-a-a-t? ]
I went back and tasted the olive oil alone and it has the foul taste that spoiled the mayo. So now, I'm thinking perhaps my olive oil bitter. So I better buy some better fresher oil and may my mayo better.
Mayonnaise is French in origin, right? What would a Frenchman use? Not what Marlon Brando used in Paris, I bet. Not Blue Bonnet either, though they did used to have the best chimichangas on Broadway in Denver.
As soon as I find a good oil to my liking, I do want to play around with the acids a bit. I used distilled vinegar and lemon juice this time but they were lost by the rancid oil. Interesting thought about the whipping doing oxidation. I used my trusty fouet to whip it good -- the same fouet that I bought in Switzerland years ago. Works like a charm.
When I was in France they made it with a neutral flavored oil. They jazzed it up with mustand and a bit of lemon juice. Whatever you do skip peanut oil, it gives it a real off taste.
I use Filippo Berio olive oil for cooking. I like Spanish olive oil, currently Nunez de Prado, for dipping - it is spicier than Italian olive oil.
My mother always made our mayonnaise, but I never noticed which kind of oil she used - thinking back on those days, 50+ years ago, I am going to guess corn oil. Have you tried corn oil? Seems like that would be a natural for a Midwesterner.
Sixty, Inthink corn oil might work. I only tried the olive oil because that’s all Inhad. I’m going to look for the blandest, whitest oil for my next attempt. The oil is only there for mouth feel and texture — not for taste, in my opinion.
Canola oil is a good mono saturated oil that is very subtle in taste. I buy mayo made w/ canola.
Post a Comment