Make Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is that creamy goodness that really helps make a sandwich a sandwich. Without it, your food is still edible, but how much better would it taste with some good ol' mayo?

Sure, you can always go buy a tub of the stuff. But if you are trying to slice off calories and avoid extra additives, this is the sandwich-saving instructable for you!

Let's get started!

You will need

The yolk of one fresh egg (this egg will not be cooked, so using a fresher egg is highly recommended so that bacteria a thread)

1.2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp mustard powder

2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 cup neutral oil (this is referring to the neutral taste of the oil. I used grapseed, but olive oil works great too)

optional (for added fancy):

paprika

garlic

Mayonnaise is a made up primarily of two ingredients that don't play nicely with one another: lemon juice and oil. Usually, if these two are mixed together, they will begin to separate slowly returning to their natural state. But if we invite egg yolk to play, lemon juice and oil magically begin to get along. This is because the yolk is an emulsifier, or combiner of the other ingredients.

For this reason but also to avoid salmonella, it is important to get the freshest eggs possible. Also, before beginning to make the mayonnaise, make sure your eggs are at room temperature to ensure that the fat emulsifier, lecithin, is in an optimal state to combine the other ingredients.

Side note: eggs are always easier to incorporate when at room temperature, this is a common practice that bakers use and is known as, among other things, "Baker's Trick."

If you're impatient like me, though, and need your eggs at room temp ASAP, simply put them in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes.

Although there are many ways to do this, I usually just pierce a small hole in the egg shell with the back of a spoon, flip over and allow the egg white to leak out. Once I'm confident that only the yolk is left, I'll crack the entire thing into the appropriate bowl.

Mix together your egg yolk with the salt, mustard powder, sugar and 1 tsp of lemon juice.

At this point, it still won't look anything like mayonnaise, but don't fret, once we begin to add the oil, the entire mixture will fluff up and begin to cream.

Using a teaspoon, slowly begin to add in the oil to your egg mix, whisking as you do so. Make sure you only add a little bit of oil at a time, as adding too much without whisking will break your emulsification, that is, the yolks ability to hold everyone's hand.

This step may take you several minutes, but it is better to go slow and see the miracle of emulsifying than to have your ingredients separate (btw, if this happens, you can just add another egg yolk, but will have to increase your other ingredients accordingly.)

You'll soon notice the color begin to change, and the texture thicken.

After adding about half of your oil, throw in the second tsp of lemon juice, then continue to add in the oil. This process will also encourage emulsifying without over-saturating one ingredient over the other.

Once you have added in all of your oil, you can transfer your mayonnaise into a jar or leave covered as is, but do allow to sit out for about 2 hours. This will further the ingredients' ability to stay bonded. After that, it'll be ready for refrigeration.

I threw in some paprika for a bit of added flavor, but feel free to experiment, even adding some garlic for an aioli taste

Enjoy!