Mayonnaise

By John, 5 July, 2014
Description

Another of the classic "mother sauces", (Sauce) Mayonnaise, the old-school Sauce Allemande, the popular Hollandaise and Bearnaise sauces, and Suace Colbert are all examples of egg-thickened sauces.
These are popular with the low-carb crowd, but they are excellent sauces in their own right. 

Unlike the White Sauce and Veloute that rely on flour as a thickener, the egg-thickened sauces use (wait, wait! Don't tell me...) egg yolks for thickening. Egg yolks can absorb a quantity of fat into an emulsion similar to how flour and fat absorb liquid. But the egg yolk-fat emulsion has no stock or other liquid, so it is very rich and is often seasoned very strongly. 

Yield
2 Cups
Preparation time
10 minutes
Ingredients
3 egg yolks (at room temperature)
2 c liquid fat (olive oil is traditional, but you can use anything)
1 t Ground Mustard
1⁄2 t Salt
1 T Lemon Juice (or flavored vinegar)
Instructions
  1. With all ingredients at room temperature, whisk the egg yolks with the salt and mustard.
  2. Gradually add the fat, drop by drop and then spoon by spoon, stirring until well mixed.
  3. Add the lemon juice, and then other seasonings as needed.