The Damsel’s mother has long sung the praise of homemade mayonnaise. Making her own is an especially useful skill while on a mission to Spain. Apparently a person can’t easily buy it there.
It’s nice to know that when Armeggedon comes and the grocery stores are emptied, we can still have mayo. Whew!
Provided we have the following:
1 egg, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp vinegar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 1/4 cups oil. Electricity would also be handy, although not required. There are dozens of methods for making mayo…this is how to do it with a stick blender.
First about the egg. Set it out of the refrigerator for an hour or so, allowing it to come to room temperature. This recipe does contain raw egg, so if you’re worried about salmonella, you could heat the egg, vinegar, and lemon juice in a double boiler, until it comes to 150 degrees, taking about one minute. Let cool. Or use a pasteurized egg.
What the heck is a pasteurized egg?
No, never mind. The Damsel doesn’t want to know.
Crack the egg into the cup that came with the stick blender, or any tall, narrow vessel the stick blender will fit inside.
Add the vinegar (it can be any type…just keep in mind that the flavor of the vinegar will influence the flavor of the mayo)
and the lemon juice (forgive the ReaLemon felony. Actual lemon juice from an actual lemon would be great)
…the salt…(everything but the oil can be added in any order) …and the dry mustard. By the way, you can use prepared dijon mustard instead. Curiously, although the Damsel is okay with fake lemon juice today, she doesn’t want to hear about anyone using hotdog mustard.
Put in the stick blender and whirl stuff around a bit. Turn it off and leave the stick in place, but the Damsel sadly and sincerely warns you to be careful not to knock it over.
Pour the oil in on top of everything.
Turn the stick back on and hold it at the bottom for about 12 seconds. You will see mayo forming at the bottom of the cup.
Slowly raise the stick while still blending, mayo forming magically as you go. Slosh it up and down a few more times. That’s it!
Beautiful, smooth, creamy mayo. Now just taste it and adjust it to your liking. The Damsel added a few more shakes of salt. Some people add sugar or more lemon.
Add less oil next time if you’d like a less-thick result. This recipe produces a Best Foods type consistency. Eat! and eat it fast. Since it has no nasty preservatives (and a raw egg) it’s best to use it within a few days.
Stay tuned for more things to do with mayo besides spreading on bread. (Or as the Damsel’s youngest sprog would do–add ketchup for a “fry sauce sandwich.” Ew!)
Old School 
I love the homemade stuff. I made ketchup once too. But I will not try the fry sauce sandwich, thank you very much! My Chilean college roommate would eat mayo sandwiches all the time – it HAD to be Hellman’s mayo though.
The Damsel’s mother… that would be the Queen Mum?
that’s her!
that is awesome!
I’m really enjoying reading your blog. Lots of great info here. I’m always up for learning how to ‘old school’ it. The mayo thing will be great as my 17 year old son is Vegan and won’t eat anything made with “corporation farm” eggs. He sorely misses mayo and we’ve been looking for a homemade version to try as he will eat it if made from our own chicken’s eggs. I just have to try and hunt up a stick blender at a yard sale or goodwill for cheap and we’ll be trying that recipe out soon.
Neato! If you want to make ze mayo with a regular blender, you can do it the same way–just drizzle the oil in very slowly through the lid’s opening of the blender while it is running. Verrrry slowly.
I want chickens! The husband needs convincing. I was super interested in your post about clipping their right wings.
That’s so cool! I had no idea you could do that.
Also, I loved your comment at Mormon Women Friday. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Thanks, Amanda! I just found Mormon Women and love it.
Come back soon.
Wow. I am all excited to try these different things out! Great and useful!
Hi there- I love Cheryl Ann! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love yours- what great tips and tricks. I’m adding you to my reader right now. I actually really needed that one about mending the jeans!
-Sara 🙂
You can also use the food processor. All fast-spinning tools work well. Also, I love it with tarragon vinegar – makes great coleslaw with a few caraway seeds.
Mmm! I’m excited to try some different variations. That sounds great.
I tried this and failed… twice. I’ve made it before but it is NOT working today. Why?????
describe what happens?
OK… just tried this and I’ve ended up with a milky looking liquid.
I don’t know what went wrong?
The only oil I have enough of was corn oil, was this the problem?
I just tried it a second time and it worked like a charm! It’s sooooo yummy!
I have no idea how I messed up the first time….. but it works now!
Yay! I’m so glad it worked.
help! Like Amy Lu I tried twice..and nothing except a sunny yellow mess.
I saw a video where the chef dumped everything in together, used a stick mixer and bingo! 12 seconds she had rich creamy mayo.
I have a runny mess. Twice in a row. Now out of egg and store is closed. The potatoes and celery that were carefully prepped for potato salad are now in fridge awaiting emergency app of mayo when I can either get or make ( I may cave and buy some as a back up…)
Three things to know:
I used canola oil–saw it in one web demo and worked fine.
First time I dumped all in bowl–saw that in another web demo, an worke fine.
and we have thunderstorms in the area.
I mention the third thing ONLY because some web denizen said they’d heard that mayo won’t emulsify then..folklore? fakelore?
Problem is, with all the sites saying how stupidly easy it is to make mayo? I am feeling um, stupid.
Tips here? Is mixing the yolks first mandatory? and drizzling oil in SLLLLOOOWWWLLLY also a must? I have no problem following rules, just saw that it didn’t seem to make a difference inthe two videos..
also egg freshness? egg temp? (room temp first? jeeeez)
any tips appreciated. I spent a bundle on a damn stick mixer and I’m thinkin’ I don’t want it for nothing but smoothies.. sigh.
-K
Oh man, I’m sorry. Don’t feel stupid. I’ve heard from several people who have had this problem…including people who have made it successfully in the past.
The canola oil…shouldn’t matter. Dumping it all into one bowl…I dump it all in together, but I use a narrow thing rather than a bowl. I am going to try it in a bowl and see if that is a factor. I have seen a lot of videos on the internet talking about how you have to drizzle it in so slowly…like drop by drop…but that is not with a stick mixer. You shouldn’t have to do that.
I do recommend mixing everything but the oil first, though, although I think you did that. I’ve heard it matters if the egg is at room temp which you also did I believe.
I’ll try it in a bowl instead of a skinny thingy and see what happens. Stay tuned.
I did try this…see my new post and let me know if you have any comments/questions/howlings.
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This site was… how do I say it? Relevant!!
Finally I have found something which helped me. Thanks a lot!