After I had decided to make egg salad to serve with tomato soup for a simple dinner, I discovered that there was no mayo in the fridge. Rather than hopping in the car and driving to the market, I decided that I had what I needed to make both mayonnaise and egg salad.
I had a dozen eggs from Thymless Herbs, a nearby farm in Bridgewater, Vermont. I could use one to make mayo and four to make egg salad. The egg shells ranged in color from creamy white to warm brown and shades of pale blue and soft gray green, more beautiful than eggs dyed for an Easter basket. Aracauna hens laid the blue and green eggs. It had never occurred to me that chickens had ears until Suzy Krawczyk, the farmer, explained that the color of each hen’s eggs matched the color of that hen’s ears. I find it nearly impossible to put the empty shells on the compost pile.
Mayo is an emulsion of oil suspended in the liquid of an egg, stabilized by lecithin in both mustard and egg yolks, and flavored with vinegar, salt and cayenne pepper.
With all of the ingredients in place, all I needed was a fork and a dinner plate to make mayonnaise.
Here’s how I made it:
Mayonnaise
I put a damp tea towel under a dinner plate to keep it from sliding about and cracked an egg onto it. The fresh egg had a golden yolk surrounded by a band of viscous, clear egg white. I mixed the egg with one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, half a teaspoon of kosher salt, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and a tiny pinch of cayenne until the salt had dissolved and the mixture was smooth. Then I poured half a cup of olive oil and half a cup of canola oil into a measuring cup.
I beat constantly as I added the oil, slowly, very slowly, drop by drop. I made sure that each drop was incorporated before adding the next. After I had incorporated a couple of teaspoons of oil, I was able to slowly increase the quantity of each addition. If oil is added too quickly, the emulsion will break or separate. If this happens, you can begin again by combining a second egg and half a teaspoon of mustard on a second plate and slowly adding the ‘broken’ mayo to this mixture.
The mayo thickened as the oil was incorporated – more oil means thicker mayo. The total amount of oil depends on the size of the egg and the desired consistency. I put the finished mayo into a jar, labeled it and put it in the fridge.
I often vary the flavor of mayo with cider vinegar or lime juice instead of lemon juice, or by adding chopped fresh herbs like parsley, dill, thyme or tarragon or spice blends like curry powder or chili powder.
Homemade mayo is the perfect topper for poached fish or as the glue that holds a cucumber or watercress tea sandwich together. When flavored with curry powder and stirred into chicken salad it raises that age old question, “Which came first – the chicken or the egg?”
My favorite egg salad started with four eggs – two for each serving. Here’s how I made it:
Egg Salad
I put four eggs into a medium saucepan and covered them with cold water. I brought the water to a rolling boil, covered the pot and turned off the burner. I left the eggs in the water in the covered pot for fifteen minutes and then replaced the hot water with cold. I tapped the eggs under water against the side of the pan to crack the shells. Fresh eggs are more difficult to shell than old eggs and leaving the eggs to soak in the cold water for a few minutes made it easier to separate the shell from the egg.
I used a small food small food processor to finely chop the eggs before I stirred in half a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a tablespoon of chopped, fresh dill, a pinch of salt, a grind of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a generous tablespoon of the mayo.
Served with warm, crusty toast and a bowl of tomato soup dinner was simply delicious.
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Mayo List
- 1 egg
- 1 T fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 t kosher salt
- 1 T Dijon mustard
- a pinch of cayenne
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 c canola oil
Egg Salad List
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 t Dijon mustard
- 1 T chopped dill
- a pinch of salt & a grind of black pepper
- a pinch of cayenne pepper
- a generous tablespoon of the mayo.
Hi Carol,
My sister Suzy of Thymeless Herbs led me to your site. It’s delightful…I love your watercolors and photos not to mention all the great looking recipes!! I just got Suzy started with a blog. I’m excited to try some of your recipes! I’m going to ad your blog to my “Truffles and Tea” blogroll (I have a couple of blogs – the one I used here is my photoblog). I’ll be back again soon,
Cathy (Ross)
Hello,
Perhaps we will meet at the Norwich Market next summer. I’m a vendor there and right next to Suzy.
Thanks for your kind words. I’ll visit your blog.
Carol
I love eggs. We go through eggs like it’s going out of style. I hope to come across araucana eggs some day. Love your photos!
I love the natural coloured egg shells. Where I’m from, it’s only either brown or white, never this shades of blue. So beautiful. Yes my mom-in-law always makes her own mayo with olive oil and sometimes she adds a bit of curry in it.
Perhaps there are local farmers who could be convinced to raise araucana hens. I’m not a farmer but as I understand it they are no more difficult to take care of than any other sort of hen. Thanks for stopping by. I love curry mayo for chicken salad.
Carol
I love the way you framed the recipe to match the dish—so creative!
~Home made mayo can’t be beat.
Actually – that is the label I made to put on the jar of mayo.
Thanks for stopping by.
Carol
I have still not made my own mayonnaise – what’s wrong with me? LOL I love Araucana eggs, so pretty. I can’t wait until the Araucanas at my local farm start laying in quantity again.
Oh my, those eggshells are little treasures! We keep thinking about building a little henhouse and getting some chickens, as we’re always finding use for eggs every week, and I’d definitely make my own mayonnaise!
I recommend araucana hens because of the wonderful color eggs they produce. Remember to check the color of their ears!
Good thing you have extra eggs. I love homemade mayonnaise. Store bought mayo here are very sweet to suit the Filipino taste.
Those egg shells are stunning.
Nothing better than homemade mayo and easier to do than people realize–
I seriously need to make mayo from scratch. And on top of that, I love egg salad. Definitely will try it soon.
I just got really excited when I found out you’re from Vermont. I went to school in Burlington. Awesome to know another person from a lovely state.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Vermont is beautiful.
I love your photo of the egg shells, and I never knew or have seen eggs this color, how beautiful. Great recipes, my husband like cayenne in his egg salad too:)
Martha Stewart agrees. She marketed a whole line of paints who’s colors were based on the colors of araucana eggs.