The recipe for the sauce "mayonnaise" is lost in the past centuries, however, not so distant. With a great deal of certainty, we can say that he appeared no earlier than the middle of the 18th century in France. There are several beautiful legends about his invention by the court chef of the Duke de Richelieu, but these legends do not cause much confidence. Reliable evidence and documents simply do not exist. It seems that the old French word for "yolk" gave this sauce the name "mayonnaise." The recipe for cooking is quite complicated for an occasional inspiration. Mayonnaise is an emulsion, in other words, a mixture of immiscible substances. In our case, oil and water, and the stabilizer of the emulsion, or otherwise an emulsifier, is the egg yolk, or rather a substance called lecithin, contained in the yolk. Cheaper lecithin is now obtained from soy, and it has replaced the yolks from the industrial production of mayonnaise. If a physicist invented mayonnaise, the recipe for cooking would be exactly as an unknown chef described it. This fact is surprising.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the famous French chef Olivier, just the one who enriched Russian cuisine with the salad of the same name, entered the world culinary scene. He adds dry mustard powder at the emulsion stage , which turned out to be an excellent emulsifier. This is how the Provence mayonnaise recipe appears - making it is much easier than simple. Let me remind you that beating mayonnaise manually is a very time-consuming process, it required speed and uncommon strength from the cook or his assistants. Probably, at that time there was a profession of “mayonnaise beater” and galley rowers were recruited there.
The invention of the mixer greatly facilitated the production of mayonnaise sauce. The recipe also gradually changed with the discovery of cheap soy emulsifiers. In homemade mayonnaise, there is no chemical know-how, and he retained all the advantages inherited from the brilliant Olivier.
To make Provence mayonnaise, the recipe requires eggs, vegetable oil, mustard powder, vinegar, or citric acid. First, we separate the protein from the yolk, it must be done very carefully, since the protein is not an emulsifier and can be very harmful in creating an emulsion. Eggs must be fresh, so it is best to buy them in the market.
Now you need to choose a convenient dish for whipping. Usually the mixer is equipped with a set of cups, the one that is higher and narrower will go. Put the yolk, sugar on the bottom, add a spoonful of mustard powder and a drop of oil. The oil should be odorless, there is no big difference what it is made from, but the gourmets say that for a quality product you need to take exclusively refined olive oil. Turn on the mixer and begin to beat, adding a drop of oil. If the mixture begins to thicken right before your eyes, then everything is going fine - we continue to add oil, now not by drop, but by spoon. In the future, you can pour oil in a thin stream without turning off and without taking out the mixer. Somewhere at the end of the cooking process, add vinegar or citric acid. Mayonnaise is noticeably lighter: its color changes from amber to ivory. At this stage, we are not afraid of anything, you can salt, pepper, add spices and even water if, in your opinion, it is too thick. The taste of mayonnaise can be given any shade to anyone who likes.
Cooking takes no more than 10 minutes, or even less. Since our mayonnaise, the recipe of which does not involve the use of preservatives, artificial emulsifiers and other not very pleasant things, consists only of natural products, its shelf life is limited to 3-5 days, after which it begins to break up into fractions, the oil intensively goes upstairs, tastes are lost. Therefore, it is not necessary to procure it for the future. Cook just the amount you can use in one or two times.