Recipes from professional Chef Tallyrand:

EGG MAYONNAISE - FRESH EGG MAYONNAISE

Hi everybody! On my return to the UK at Christmas I was surprised to learn that in the UK, restaurants are no longer allowed to use fresh eggs in their shell for making mayonnaise, but must make it from pasteurised egg yolks. Following the letter of the law, all eggs are to be bought pasteurised. They are purchased in cartons similar to milk and available as: egg whites, yolks or whole egg mixture. These have been treated to be free from any harmful food poisoning bacteria (known as pathogens), such as salmonella. This is the same for any product made from eggs: cakes, Yorkshire puddings, etc, etc. However, eggs in the shells are allowed to be used for fried eggs etc.

I bring this up this week, as many requests have come in for the recipe and tips on making mayonnaise, information on egg hygiene and tips on using eggs in general. So this week it's fresh egg mayonnaise making we will go!

The recipe for fresh Egg Mayonnaise is very simple as long as one follows some simple guidelines (see my chef notes) and then take a look at my cooking tips this week for more detailed information on handling, using and cooking with eggs. Mayonnaise is an emulsion sauce; in other words by the means of an emulsion agent (the egg yolk) oil and water that don't normally mix will combine forming a creamy cold sauce. Mayonnaise may be used as a cold sauce with cold appetisers or cold buffets, alternatively it may be thinned and used as a salad dressing also.

To this basic sauce may be added many ingredients: tomato ketchup, orange juice and tabasco for a seafood sauce; chopped herbs for a great green sauce to go with fish dishes . . . if you want more ideas just email me.

Ingredients for Egg Mayonnaise

egg yolks	2	pc
vinegar	25	ml
mustard - mild English		sq
soya oil (room temperature)	300	ml

How to make Egg Mayonnaise

1. Place the egg yolks, vinegar and mustard (approx. 1 tsp) into a bowl and combine well with a whisk
2. Continue whisking and very slowly add the oil; a little at a time until completely combined
3. Once all the oil is added continue whisking for one minute to ensure a complete emulsion
4. Correct seasoning with salt and white pepper
5. If the sauce is too thick it may be thinned with a little boiling water, if too thin whisk in more oil

Chef's Tip for Egg Mayonnaise

Sometimes the emulsion will not work, when this happens we say the sauce has split or curdled, mayonnaise will curdle or split for a variety of reasons:

• the oil is too warm or too cold
• the oil was added to quickly
• the whisking was insufficient
• the yolks were stale

This can be corrected by one of two means:

• a little boiling water is placed into a bowl and the curdled mayonnaise slowly whisked into it
• a fresh egg yolk and a little vinegar or water is placed into a bowl and the curdled mayonnaise slowly whisked into it.

Enjoy your Egg Mayonnaise and bon appetit . . . . .

Published 05 February 2001